No Harm Done
by LuRC
Summary: Cassandra Swan is Bella's younger twin sister. Like her sister she is quiet, compasionate, loves music, can't walk without tripping and is moving to Forks to live with their dad. But differently than her sister she has a sense of preservation. How will she interact with our favorite family of vampires?
1. Chapter 1

Our mother drove us to the airport. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. My sister and I were exiling ourselves, from the sunny and orange Phoenix to the drizzly and gray Forks. I didn't love Phoenix like my sister, it was too hot for me, I would have loved to live in a town where at summer we could use the pool and at winter it would snow...

My name is Cassandra Swan, I'm the younger twin, by 30 seconds, of Isabella Swan. When we were just a few months old our mom was able to escape from Forks. But she left behind our dad, he never seemed to get over that.

The reason for the moving was because our mom had remarried. Don't get it wrong, he wasn't a bad guy, he was great, he treated our mom just right. He was a Baseball player, nothing famous, but his job took him to different cities. And, whenever he wasn't around, mom missed him. She tried to pretend, but we could see. So, one day, Bella and I sat down and decided to go live with our dad. Of course, we never told our mom the real reason, saying that we both wanted it. To tell the truth, I wanted it, I missed dad, I hated that we only saw each other on summer.

Once we arrived at the airport, I removed my earphones. Bella went to get a cart while mom and I got the bags out of the trunk, there wasn't much, after all, the clothes we wore in Phoenix would not do in Forks. Bella and I were identical twins and had the same build, so, we could share clothes, at first. My sister's style and mine didn't really go along, while she was the type that were what was comfortable, not even caring if it matched, I wasn't a shopaholic or those super fashion forward girls, but my style was, without a doubt better than hers.

"I already told your sister, and I'll repeat to you. If you need me, if you want to come home, just give a call, I will get on the first plane and come meet you." Mom had tears in her eyes.

"I know mom. I love you so much." I said giving her a hug. I knew that I had to hold back the tears or else mom wouldn't let us leave.

I was glad when Bella returned with the cart, it gave me a distraction, we load it up and went to the terminal. Mom hugged us both for more than a minute, we then got on the plane.

Both of us were very quiet people, we enjoyed the presence of one another more than the talking. So, the four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle and the one-hour flight to Port Angeles were spent in silent. I shared my earphone with my sister so that we both could listen at the same time. My sister loved classical music, I did to, but I also loved every other style, I had a passion for music and loved to play the piano.

Arriving in Port Angeles we saw dad waiting for us in the cruiser. He's name is Charlie Swan, and he's the Chief of Police of Forks. And that was why, my sister and I decided we would gather our money and buy a car. None of us wanted to ride to school on the cruiser. Luckily when we told dad we wanted to buy a car, he agreed to help us.

Charlie gave each one of us an awkward, one-armed hug "It's good to see you both," he said, smiling. "Neither of you have changed much. How's Renée?"

"Mom's fine. It's good to see you, too, Dad." Bella answered.

"I found a good car, really cheap," he announced when we were strapped in. Bella got to ride in the front.

"What kind of car?" I was curious. I didn't know much about cars, but I was able to tell the difference between models and brands.

"Well, it's a truck actually, a Chevy."

"Where did you find it?" Bella inquired, she seemed suspicious.

"Do you guys remember Billy Black down at La Push?" La Push is the tiny Indian reservation on the coast.

"No.", "Yes." Each of us answered differently, while Bella deemed every second on Forks a painful memory, I enjoyed my time here.

"He used to go fishing with us during the summer," Charlie prompted, trying to get Bella to remember. When she didn't answer he looked at me and continued. "He's in a wheelchair now, so he can't drive anymore, and he offered to sell me his truck cheap."

"What year is it?" With Bella's question we both saw how his face changed, he had hoped we wouldn't ask that.

"Well, Billy's done a lot of work on the engine — it's only a few years old, really."

I hoped he didn't think so little of us as to believe we would give up that easily. "When did he buy it?" I asked.

"He bought it in 1984, I think."

"Did he buy it new?" Bella asked.

"Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties — or late fifties at the earliest," he admitted sheepishly.

"Ch — Dad, we don't really know anything about cars. We wouldn't be able to fix it if anything went wrong, and we can't afford a mechanic…" Bella tried to argue.

"Really, Bella, Cassie, the thing runs great. They don't build them like that anymore."

"How cheap is cheap?" After all, that was the part we couldn't compromise on.

"Well, girls, I kind of already bought it. As a homecoming gift." Charlie peeked sideways at Bella, then at me, he had a hopeful expression.

Free. Interesting.

"You didn't need to do that, Dad."

"I don't mind. I want you both to be happy here." He interrupted me.

"That's really nice, Dad. Thanks. We really appreciate it." Bella said. After that the car went silent, so I decided to put my earphones on again.

Eventually we made it to dad's. He still lived in the small, two-bedroom house that he'd bought with mom in the early days of their marriage. Those were the only kind of days their marriage had — the early ones. There, parked on the street in front of the house that never changed, was our new — well, new to us — truck. It was a faded red color, with big, rounded fenders and a bulbous cab. I loved it and exchanging a look with Bella I could tell she loved it too. It was one of those solid iron affairs that never gets damaged — the kind you see at the scene of an accident, paint unscratched, surrounded by the pieces of the foreign car it had destroyed.

"Wow, Dad, I love it! Thanks!" I gave him a huge smile, I could see Bella smiling and nodding at him.

"I'm glad you both like it," Charlie said gruffly, embarrassed again.

In one trip we had our stuff in our room. Just like in Phoenix we would be sharing a room, and I didn't mind, after all, we have never slept in separated room.

The room was familiar, the color though, had changed, instead of the light blue it was now light gray and the curtains on both window's were white. There were two twin beds, with a dark wood nightstand in the middle. At the front of the window was the desk now held a secondhand computer, with the phone line for the modem stapled along the floor to the nearest phone jack. This was a stipulation from mom, so that we could stay in touch easily. The rocking chair from our baby days was still in the corner.

There was only one small bathroom at the top of the stairs, which we would have to share with Charlie.

One of the best things about Charlie is he doesn't hover. So, he left us alone to unpack and settle. We started choosing our beds, mine was the one closest to the wardrobe and door, while Bella got the one closest to the window looking out to the front yard. Bella left me to organize the closet while she dressed the beds with the sheet's dad had bought for us, one of the comforters was purple while the other was light pink, it was quite obvious which belonged to each of us.

Once I was done, I saw that my sister was sitting at her bed, looking outside, I sat beside her. She had a few tears on her eyes. I whipped them away and got her to look at me, we were identical twins, so it was almost like looking in the mirror, the only few differences we had was that my face was just a bit rounder than hers and our hairs length. While hers was just above her waist, mine was cut in a long bob with blonde highlights.

Having know each other so well I knew what was scaring my sister: Forks High School. It had a total of only three hundred and fifty-seven — now fifty-nine — students; while at our junior class back home there were more than seven hundred people. All of the kids here had grown up together — their grandparents had been toddlers together. We were the freaks, the new kids.

"We have each other, we are going to be alright." My sister didn't seem to believe me when I said that, but she at least stopped crying. Bella couldn't relate very well to people our age or any age, she was just so shy and quiet, I on the other hand preferred to be quiet, but I was very good at adapting to the situation.

I didn't sleep well that night, I could hear Bella crying until almost 1a.m. After that was the wind and the rain, guess we would have to get used to that.

* * *

I was the first one up, I had a routine to follow. First shower, then clothes, breakfast, brush my teeth, make up and lastly accessories. For my clothes I chose a deep blue colored jean, a black boot with just a little heel and a gray sweater and my light pink rain coat.

When I got down for breakfast Bella and dad were there, it was really quiet. He wished us good luck at school. We both thanked him. He left first, off to the police station that was his wife and family. After he left, Bella just sat at the old square oak table, while I went upstairs to finish getting ready. I wasn't a vain person, I liked to make myself pretty for myself, I just loved how blush gave a little more color to my fair skin, how the golden brownish eye shadow brought out my eyes. I never over did it, I just accentuated what I loved.

Once I was done, I joined her downstairs. She was looking at our school's picture that were above the fireplace.

"Bella, lets go?" That seemed to break out of her thoughts. As she got up, I left the house to get the spare key that was hidden under the eaves by the door. She got in the truck and started it while I locked up the house.

The drive to school was quiet, Bella looked nervous. She parked in front of the first building, which had a small sign over the door reading 'front office'.

"Uhm, Bells, I don't think we are allowed to park here." There was no one else parked there.

"I know, we'll go in there, just get directions and then leave. It's better than either of us to walk on the rain." She was right, we both had the amazing ability to trip over air or our own feet… Mom and dad both loved to laugh at us for that.

Inside there was a red-haired woman typing away in the computer. She looked up at us. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Cassandra Swan, and this is my sister, Isabella Swan," I informed her, and saw the immediate awareness light her eyes. We were expected, a topic of gossip no doubt.

"Of course," she said. She dug through a precariously stacked pile of documents on her desk till she found the ones she was looking for. "I have your schedules right here, and two maps of the school." She brought several sheets to the counter to show roe.

We compared our classes, great, apparently, we weren't having anyone of them together. She gave us each a slip to have each teacher sign, which we had to bring back at the end of the day.

When we got back to our truck, other students were starting to arrive. I was the one to drive this time, so I just followed the line of traffic. Most of the cars were old, like our truck, there was just one, a silver S60 Volvo, it was a real beauty.

Bella was looking at the map, most likely trying to memorize it, it was kind of fun, I couldn't hold back the chuckle. She looked at me with a frown.

"Relax, sis, we are going to make it through this day. Trust me." I knew she appreciated that I didn't say that 'every thing is going to be alright' or something in those lines. God, she really was an open book.

I parked at the first spot I found. We both got out of the truck, students were staring. We kind of just followed the flow until we reached the cafeteria. Once there Bella turned towards me, she had a freighting look at her face.

"Breath sis, remember, we'll see each other at lunch." I gave her a smile and she gave me a nod. Once I saw her walking towards her building, I turned to find mine.

I finally got to the biology class, Mr. Banner seemed okay, he didn't make me introduce myself to class, which was a relieve. After he signed the slip, he told me to take the, only available, seat next to Mr. Francis. It was at the back of the class. When I got there, the boy was asleep. Come on!

The girl in front of me turned. "It's his third year as a junior, he sleeps through half of the classes and on the other half he doesn't show up." I looked at the boy again, wanting badly to kick his chair. "By the way, my name is Jessica. You must be one of the Swan's twins." Ouch, she was really noisy. I really hated that kind of people.

"Yes, I'm Cassie Swan." I chose to ignore her the rest of the class and pay attention, biology wasn't one of my strong suits.

Once the bell rang Jessica once again started talking to me. "What's your next class?"

"History." I admit, I had to look at my bag for that.

"Cool, I don't have that class, but it's in the same building as mine, so I'll walk you there." She took my arm and just started walking. While we walked, she talked, a lot. I quickly saw a glance of my sister, accompanied by an Asian boy.

We were in front of my classroom. "You'll sit with me at lunch, our table is where everyone important sits." She didn't even give me time to respond before leaving. I just knew, if I had the chance, I wasn't going to sit with her.

I don't remember the name of the history teacher, but she reminded me of a character, Emily Gilmore, from my favorite show, Gilmore Girls, so I decided to call her in my mind, Mrs. Gilmore. Weirdly enough, her personality also matched Emily's and she made me introduce myself in front of the class.

"My name is Cassandra Swan, I prefer Cassie. I'm 17, I have a twin sister named Bella, and we both just moved here from Phoenix." Once I was done, she pointed to an open seat at the back next to a man who looked like he was in pain. I say man, because he also looked way older then 17, he was tall, lean, really muscular, and had honey blond hair. As I was getting closer, I realized he wasn't breathing.

Once I sat down on my seat, he looked at me perplexed. I didn't get that so I just decided to ignore him. During most of the class I could feel his eyes on me. It was really weird.

The other two classes were normal, no teacher made me introduce myself, thankfully, and there were no other weird guys. At calculus, my last class before lunch, I meet a very nice girl, her name was Angela, she sat behind me, she was very sweet and offered me a seat on their table for lunch. Well, looks like I won't be seating with Jessica, Thank God.

When we got to lunch, I was able to see Bella at the same table as Jessica. I started to think of ways to get her out of there, knowing she would not be enjoying herself, when Angela started to lead us that way.

"Hey everyone, this is Cassie." Angela introduced me to everyone in the table. Apparently, I wasn't getting rid of Jessica anytime soon. Bella and I exchanged smiles, before I left to get some food. When I got back, they had changed a few things and now there was a space between Bella and Jessica. She looked at me, and gave me an apologetic smile. She had already meet Jessica, and she had thrown me under the bus. _'That's low sis, really low._ '

I chose to ignore Jessica the best I could, talking to Bella and Angela, who sat on my sister's other side.

The conversation was flowing until I realized Bella was completely staring at another table. I flowed her look and saw the same man from my history class. Together with him there were 4 other people. They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't gawking at us, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an excessively interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught, and held, our attention. They didn't look anything alike.

Other than the man from history there were 2 men and 4 women. One of the men was big, even more muscular than history man, he had dark, curly hair. The other one was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students.

The women were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back. The short girl was pixielike, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction.

And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town. Paler than me, the albino. They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes — purplish, bruiselike shadows. As if they were all suffering from a sleepless night, or almost done recovering from a broken nose. Though their noses, all their features, were straight, perfect, angular. But all this is not why I couldn't look away.

I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel.

They were all looking away — away from each other, away from the other students, away from anything in particular as far as I could tell. As I watched, the small girl rose with her tray — unopened soda, unbitten apple — and walked away with a quick, graceful lope that belonged on a runway. I watched, amazed at her lithe dancer's step, till she dumped her tray and glided through the back door, faster than I would have thought possible. My eyes darted back to the others, who sat unchanging.

"Who are they?" Bella's question got me out of my trance. Angela looked up to see who she meant. The thinner of all three looked at us, he first glanced at Bella then at me. His eyes moved quickly, scanning us, like he was trying to read us.

Bella dropped her head, I knew she was blushing. That was one of her gifts the ability to blush for everything and nothing. It was really fun to watch.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." Finally, we had our answer. Unfortunately, it was Jessica who answered. History man was staring at me with curiosity. With one word from Rosalie his face turned sour. Now that was weird.

"They are… very nice-looking." Bella struggled with the conspicuous understatement.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all together though — Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town, I thought critically. But, if I was being honest, I had to admit that even in Phoenix, it would cause gossip.

"Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked. "They don't look related…"

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister— the blondes — and they're foster children." Guess I could finally stop calling history man. The leaner looked quickly at me then smiled a little. _'Weird.'_

"They look a little old for foster children." Bella commented.

"They are now, Jasper is seventeen and Rosalie is eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."

"That's really kind of nice — for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything." I said.

"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly. With the glances she was throwing at them, I could tell she was jealous. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness.

"Shut up." I whispered. Bella looked at me and so did Jessica. "Just because she can't have kids that doesn't make her less of a woman or diminish the kindness of what they are doing." I said through my gritted teeth.

That seemed to shut her up, finally. Bella kept staring at the table. I, on the other hand, continued to eat my lunch. The quicker I ate, the quicker I left the table.

"Have they always lived in Forks?" Bella asked.

"No," Angela answered.

"They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska." Jessica added.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" Bella asked. I looked at him and saw he was openly staring at her, he had a slightly frustrated expression.

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently, none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." Jessica sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I wondered when he'd turned her down. Good for him. He once again looked at me before looking away with a slight smile. However, his smile faded away quickly once his eyes went back to my sister.

After a few more minutes, the four of them left the table together. They all were noticeably graceful —even the big, brawny one. It was unsettling to watch.

My sister and I left together after that, Angela decided to accompany us, because she had the same class as Bella.

I wasn't very excited for my next class… gym. Well I hope I don't fall or hurt anyone. Coach Clapp, found me a uniform but didn't make me dress down for today's class. At home, only two years of RE. were required. Here, P.E. was mandatory all four years. In this aspect, Forks would be, my sister's and mine's personal hell.

In gym there was another one of Jessica's friend there, she introduced herself as Lauren. I could tell, just by the way she talked, she was even worse than Jessica.

I was so excited when the bell finally rang, last class of this weird day. And I got away from Lauren.

My last class was English, the teacher also made me introduce myself… Crap… I was ready to repeat the same speech as before when I saw him, Jasper Hale, sitting there. Great…

"My name is Cassie Swan, I'm 17, I have a twin sister named Bella. We both moved here from Phoenix." The teacher gave me back the slip once I was done. She also pointed me towards my seat, right in front of Jasper. Great, again… He was staring at me once again.

I didn't get why he was so fixated on me. Wasn't he dating Alice, I think…?

Once I sat down, I heard him take a deep breath, well, it seemed he was now breathing. Good for him.

English class was quite easy, I knew Bella and I wouldn't have to much trouble, because we had already read all of the books.

Once the final bell rang, I quickly gather my stuff and went to meet my sister at the front office.

"Sis, wait up!" I called out to her, once I saw her at the corner of the office. When I got to her, I saw that she had a sad look on her face. "What happened?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Bella, you can't fool me. Remember I've known you all my life, big sis."

"What good 30 seconds it was before you arrived." She was being sarcastic, I knew she loved me.

"Harharhar… hilarious Bells, admitted you love me." I joked with her. Opening the front office door.

She was about to answer me, when she saw him. Edward Cullen stood at the desk. I recognized again that tousled bronze hair. He didn't appear to notice the sound of our entrance. Bella stood pressed against the back wall, waiting for the receptionist to be free. I looked at her, the sad face had returned.

Edward was arguing with the receptionist in a low, attractive voice. I quickly picked up the gist of the argument. He was trying to trade from sixth-hour Biology to another time — any other time. Bella's face got even worse. _'What did this asshole do to my sister?'_

I didn't even realize the door opened again, I was standing in front of it, so it hit me in the back. Also, a cold wind suddenly gusted through the room, rustling the papers on the desk. I turned and saw a girl, she looked at me apologetically but didn't say a word. Well I guess it was kind of my fault for standing in front of the door.

Bella was looking straight at Edward Cullen, his back was really stiff, slowly he turned to glare at her with piercing, hate-filled eyes. For an instant, I felt a thrill of genuine fear for my sister' s life, I took a step towards her and that seemed to break him out of his trance. He swiftly turned back to the receptionist.

"Never mind, then," he said hastily in a voice like velvet. "I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." And he turned on his heel without another look at us, and disappeared out the door.

I got to the desk quickly, eager to get out, my sister on the other hand, took her time to hand over her slip. I couldn't hold back the groan.

"How did your first day go, dears?" the receptionist asked maternally.

"Fine," We both lied. She didn't look convinced.

When we got to the truck, it was almost the last car in the lot. Bella got in the driver seat, I didn't want her to drive she looked really pale, more than usual, but when I tried to take the keys, she didn't let me. On the whole way home, I could see she was fighting tears. What did that jerk do to my sister?

* * *

 **Hi everyone.**

 **This is an idea that has been in my head for a very long time. And i have huge plans for it. Hope you guys like it. Don't forget to review! I will try to post one chapter per month, but I can't promise anything.**

 **Please Review**


	2. Chapter 2

When we got home, Bella quickly ran to our room. I knew my sister, I knew she wouldn't want to talk right at this instant, when what happened was still fresh in her mind. So, I stayed downstairs. I had a snack and decided to do my homework. Biology was the worst, I wasn't very good at it, and apparently, my partner was never going to help me.

I was reading on of the books for my English class when my dad came home.

"Hey kiddo, how was your day?"

"It was how I expected to be. The brave ones came to talk to us, and a few of them were very gossipy."

"Yes, small town. Where's your sister?"

"She chose to do her homework in our room. I'll go see if she's not sleeping or if she needs any help."

"Okay. Leave the door open, so you can hear when I call you guys for dinner."

I gave him a kiss in the cheek and went upstairs to find my sister.

When I got there, she was lying in bed. I could tell she was awake. I chose to close the door, because I knew Bella wouldn't talk to me if there was any chance of dad listening.

"Hi," I sat beside her in her bed. She didn't raise her head, but she had at least uncovered her ears. "I don't really know what happened. But I hope you know that you can talk to me. Always."

Since she didn't answer, I started to caress my fingers through her hair, I knew that with that trick she wasn't going to resist me for long.

"I hate and love when you do that." Her voice was muffled.

"Bella, please talk to me, I just want to help."

She sat on her bed, facing me, and took a deep breath.

"When I got to biology, Edward Cullen was there, the only available seat was next to him. Before I even sat next to him, he covered his nose and mouth. During the whole class he sat as far away from he as possible, holding his breath and the table. As soon as the bell rang, he was out of there, it was like he couldn't get out of there faster. And then at the front office, he was trying to change his sixth period. I don't know what I did, but he hates me. Actually, hate seems like a very week word for this situation."

It was weird to hear her say so much, but I was glad she opened up.

"Sis, that guy is a jerk. A complete jerk. He doesn't understand what he is missing. You are the most incredible, smart, loyal, compassionate, driven, selfless person I know. Also, you share the same shampoo and body wash as I, so I know you don't smell. Don't worry about him." I gave her a smile, "plus, I believe all those Cullens and Hales are strange, because Jasper did something similar to me as well. I have both history and English with him. During history, while I was getting to my seat next to him, it looked like he wasn't breathing. And after that he wouldn't stop staring at me."

"But he didn't hate you."

"Well, no. Actually, I wouldn't know, because I didn't keep looking at him. I just ignored him."

"I wish I could do that."

"Bella, you have to stop being like that. You sometimes are too selfless, you never want to hurt anyone, but that is not the best option sometimes, you have to remember to protect yourself."

"Girls, dinner!" We heard Charlie yell from downstairs.

"Coming, dad!" I gave my sister a hug before taking her hand and leading her to the kitchen.

The next day Edward didn't show up. I could tell from Bella's face that made her tense.

My classes were the same, except for the part that Jasper, in both classes, arrived seconds after me and picked the seat furthest from me. He wouldn't even look at me, which is quite odd considering yesterday he didn't stop.

Last night we'd discovered that Charlie couldn't cook much besides fried eggs and bacon. So, Bella requested that she be assigned kitchen detail for the duration of our stay. He was willing enough to hand over the keys to the banquet hall. We also found out that he had no food in the house. We made a shopping list and decided to stop at Thrisftway today. We also found dad's jar of FOOD MONEY in the cupboard.

The Thriftway was not far from the school, just a few streets south, off the highway. It was nice to be inside the supermarket; it felt normal. Bella usually did the shopping at home, but sometimes I joined. The store was big enough inside that we couldn't hear the tapping of the rain on the roof.

When we got home, we unloaded all the groceries, stuffing them in wherever we could find an open space. Bella started working on our dinner, while I sat in the kitchen studying. Once she was done, she went upstairs. About 10 minutes later she called me.

"What's up?" I asked, entering the bedroom.

"Mom e-mailed us, I already answered my part, want to finish it? Or should I send mine then you send yours?"

"No, I'll finish it."

"All right, I'll be downstairs."

Alone in the bedroom I read Bella's e-mail to mom…

Mom, it's Bella,

Everything is great. Of course, it's raining. We were waiting for something to write about. School isn't bad, just a little repetitive. We met some nice kids who sit with us at lunch. Your blouse is at the dry cleaners - you were supposed to pick it up Friday. Charlie bought us a truck, can you believe it? We love it. It's old, but really sturdy, which is good, you know. I miss you, too. I'll write again soon, but I'm not going to check my e-mail every five minutes.

Relax, breathe.

Hey Mom, it's Cassie,

Everything here is okay. Dad can't cook, so Bella is now in charge of feeding us. What Bella said is true, school here is repetitive. Our reading list, in English, is the same as last year in Phoenix. But, unfortunately, I got stuck in Biology, and my lab partner is either sleeping in class or skipping. He's like in his 3rd year as a Junior. Can you believe that? Don't worry, I'm studying like crazy. Bye mom, miss you.

We love you.

Bella and Cassie.

I sent the e-mail and joined Bella in the kitchen. I continued to re-read Wuthering Heights, the novel we were currently studying in English, because I didn't really remember much of the details, I'm not really a fan of drama.

When dad got home, Bella stopped her homework and continued cooking. By the smell I could tell it was almost done so I decided to clean the table and take our things upstairs. Downstairs, I could hear dad and Bella talking.

When I got downstairs, dad was watching TV. So, I decided to put the table. Once I was done, I sat in one of the mismatched chairs and kept on reading my book.

Not much after that dinner was ready.

"Smells good, Bell." Dad seemed really happy about the arrangement.

"Thanks."

We ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable. No one was bothered by the quiet. In some ways, we were well suited for living together.

"So, how did you girls like school? Made any friends?" he asked as he was taking seconds.

"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica. I sit with her friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice." Bella answered, I knew she was thinking of the only exception.

"Yeah basically the same, Jessica is only in one of my classes, this other girl Angela is in two, she's really nice." I answered dad, when he looked at me.

"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid — nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here."

"Do you know the Cullen family?" Bella asked hesitantly. I looked at her pointedly, of course she would ask about them. Why did she keep doing this to herself?

"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."

"They… the kids… are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school." She whispered. I was making sure to stay out of this conversation.

Charlie surprised us by looking angry.

"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him — lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature — I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should — camping trips every other weekend… Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."

Wow. That must have been the longest speech I'd ever heard dad make. He must feel strongly about whatever people were saying.

"They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed they kept to themselves. They're all very attractive," I added, trying to be complimentary, I did not want to get on dad's bad side. Truth be told, I didn't even know he had a bad side.

"You should see the doctor," dad said, laughing. "It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around."

We lapsed back into silence as we finished eating. Since Bella was in charge of cooking, it was my job to clean. So, I started the dishes while she and dad cleared the table. He went back to the TV, and after I finished washing the dishes by hand, and my sister drying it, we went upstairs to finish homework. I could feel a tradition in the making.

Our first weekend in Forks passed without incident. Dad, unused to spending time in the usually empty house, worked most of the weekend. Bella and I cleaned the house, got ahead on our homework, she helped me study biology, we wrote to mom more bogusly cheerful e-mail.

People greeted us in the parking lot Monday morning. I didn't know all their names, but I waved back and smiled at everyone. It was colder this morning, but happily not raining.

Unfortunately, my day quickly derailed. In biology we had an activity with our partners, and mine was absent. It was really stressful for me, but in the end, I got 3 out of the 5 blades, I made sure to copy everything Mr. Banner said, because I could not risk getting behind in biology.

Next it was history, the teacher decided that he was going to pair us up, and we would have to do an assignment. We had until the week before finals to deliver, which was a lot of time. And we were going to need all that time. We had to make a family tree, going backwards 150-200 years, not only that, but for every family member we found we had to write a list of important things that happened in their lives, like 'fought in WWII' 'lost his business because of the great depression' and stuff like that. I wasn't to depressed about this assignment, it seemed interesting. The bad part was who my partner was. Jasper Hale. The jerk's foster brother.

The teacher allowed the partners to talk for the rest of the class to figure out were to start.

"Hello, Cassie." He seemed to have am accent, but I wasn't able to tell from where.

"Hi, Jasper." First things first, we had to pick, which family's tree we were going to do. "So, do you want to do your family or mine?"

"Yours." His answered swiftly. Like he didn't even think.

"Okay."

"Mine is just complicated, and I don't want to dig into it."

"That's totally fine."

"How should we do this?"

"Well, I hope that by tomorrow, I can have my part and my sister, mom and dad's done, I think we can also get a lot of information about my grandparents. But that's the easiest part, I think. The problem will be the research, I guess google will have to do."

"I think, we could exchange e-mail, that way, you don't have to do it all alone, what ever you find of pictures, just sent to me, and I'll start the family tree. And you can also send me the names of your great-grandparents I can start re-searching them."

"Okay. That sounds like a good idea."

We started doing the work. We started with birthdays and such. Once I told him all I could remember, I started to talk about myself, which was weird, and he wrote it all down.

When the bell rang, we put our stuff away. "I'll type this down this afternoon and sent it to you."

"And I'll talk to my family." With a nod we went our separate ways.

Outside, it was snowing. Great. I was not wearing the shoes for this weather, high heels and snow, do not match. I just hoped no one threw a snowball at my beautiful green cargo jacket. I also, hoped I wouldn't fall.

In calculus, we had a pop quiz. After that we finally had lunch, finally a period where I didn't have to worry.

I walked towards the cafeteria with Angela, I was quite nervous, there were mush balls flying everywhere. Angela seemed to notice my discomfort and tried to distract me, but that was the last thing I needed, I had to pay attention, or else I could fall, or worse, I could be hit and my outfit ruined.

Gladly, we got there without incidents. I saw Bella sitting with Jessica and Mike. She was only having a soda, weird.

And that was when I saw him. Edward Cullen. Like I had screamed his name, he looked up to me. I started at him defyingly. He was the first to look away, and to look at my sister. Great. Jerk.

I got in line and served myself with a little extra, I was going to make sure my sister ate.

Once I got to the table, I sat beside her, and pushed the tray so it was in the middle of us.

She looked at me then down to her soda.

"Eat."

"She said she's feeling sick." Mike interfered, he was like a lost puppy looking at Bella.

"No, she is not. Now, eat."

She gave me a pleading look.

"Don't even try, eat."

Finally, she took a bite out of the apple. Everyone at the table was looking at us weirdly.

"I thought you were the youngest sister." Unfortunately, I was familiarized with that annoying, high pitch, voice. Lauren.

"I am. But that doesn't mean I can't look after her." I made sure to look at her with the same stern face I was looking at Bella just seconds ago. It seemed to do the job, because she scowled at me and turned to talk to one of the other people in the table.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica tried to be discrete, but everyone in the table heard her.

"He doesn't look angry, does he?" Bella couldn't help asking.

"No," I said, I was looking at their table, like the first day in school they were all looking in different directions. It was like they were trying really hard not to make eye contact with one another.

"Should he be?" Jessica asked, confused.

"I don't think he likes me," Bella confided. I groaned, that jerk. Edward started at me now. This time, I was the first to look away, focusing on my sister, who had her head on the table.

"The Cullens don't like anybody… well, they don't notice anybody enough to like them. But he's still staring at you." Jessica giggled.

"Stop looking at him," Bella hissed.

She snickered, but she looked away. Bella finally raised her head I gave her a small smile, which she returned.

Mike interrupted us then — he was planning an epic battle of the blizzard in the parking lot after school and wanted us to join. Jessica agreed enthusiastically. The way she looked at Mike left little doubt that she would be up for anything he suggested.

Bella and I exchanged looks, a silent conversation happening with just our eyes. It was quite obvious we were going to hide in the school until the parking lot was cleared.

When we got out of the cafeteria the snow had stopped and the rain had begun, looks like Bella and I wouldn't need to hide after all. Gym was like usual, my team mates stepped up to save me, and everyone ducted if I touched the ball.

In English Jasper sat behind me, instead of the opposite side of the room. I really didn't understand these people.

The rain was just a mist as I walked to the parking lot, I saw that Bella was already in the car, and it was turned on. Which was odd, because Bella, was always self-conscious of the mind-numbing roar of our car. Inside I felt the heater running, which was a relief, because this type of rain ruines by hair.

Bella looked around me to make sure it was clear. I was calmly eating a granola bar when Bella stomped on the break really hard. I looked at her like she was crazy, but I noticed she wasn't looking at me, or at the mirrors, but Edward Cullen, who was leaning by his Volvo 3 cars down. Idiot.

Bella took a deep breath, and cautiously pulled out again. Once we passed the Volvo, I held the urge to pock my tongue out to Edward. I could see he was laughing, and I knew Bella saw it too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you, to all who reviewed.**

 **YaleAceBella12; Brookeworm3; NewBlueTrue and Debbie Hicks! THANK YOU, really!**

 **Brookeworm3, you asked who I plan to pair Cassie with, well, it's a surprise, but I will tell you something: there will be A LOT of drama in Cassie's life, especially in New Moon and Eclipse. So, get prepared. Love you. Thank you for the reviews.**

 **Thank you SmilingAnne. I'm not american and don't have a beta. Really appreciated your review.**

 **SORRY IF THERE'S ANY SPELLING MISTAKES!**

* * *

After leaving the parking lot I laughed the whole way home. Bella just looked at me with a sour face, but I couldn't help it. I knew that Edward Cullen was a jerk, but still, my sister was crazy.

* * *

When I opened my eyes in the morning, something was different.

It was the light. It was still the gray-green light of a cloudy day in the forest, but it was clearer somehow. I realized there was no fog veiling my window.

I jumped up to look outside, and then groaned in horror.

A fine layer of snow covered the yard, dusted the top of my truck, and whitened the road. But that wasn't the worst part. All the rain from yesterday had frozen solid — coating the needles on the trees in fantastic, gorgeous patterns, and making the driveway a deadly ice slick. We had enough trouble not falling down when the ground was dry; it might be safer for us to not go to school today. I groaned, knowing dad wouldn't allow it.

The routine was the same as yesterday, however when Bella and I got downstairs to eat breakfast, dad had already left for work.

Bella seemed to be in a good mood. Contrary to what I expected. I thought that the snow was going to get her in a bad mood. I knew exactly why she was happy, Edward Cullen. Even though he treated her awfully that first day, Bella apparently liked him. Why did women always like the jerk that treats them badly? Why can't we like the good one, the one that treats us with respect and kindness? We women, really, are dumb sometimes.

I finished breakfast and quickly finished getting ready. When I got downstairs, I saw Bella holding out the keys for me. Well, looks like I'm driving. I hope I don't crash.

It took every ounce of my concentration to make it down the icy brick driveway alive. Bella, fell on the first step. The only reason I didn't laugh was because I was concentrated on not falling. I didn't help her up, knowing it would only make me fall. God, how we never broke bone in our body is mind blowing. I almost lost my balance when I finally got to the truck, but I managed to cling to the side mirror and save myself. Clearly, today was going to be nightmarish.

Driving to school, I thought about Mike and Eric, and the obvious difference in how teenage boys responded to us here. I was sure we looked exactly the same as we had in Phoenix. Maybe it was just that the boys back home had watched us pass slowly through all the awkward phases of adolescence and still thought of us that way. Perhaps it was because we were a novelty here, where novelties were few and far between. Possibly our crippling clumsiness was seen as endearing rather than pathetic, casting us as a damsel in distress. Whatever the reason, Mike's puppy dog behavior and Eric's apparent rivalry with him were disconcerting. I wasn't sure if I didn't prefer being ignored, I knew that Bella did.

The truck seemed to have no problem with the black ice that covered the roads. I drove very slowly, though, not wanting to carve a path of destruction through Main Street.

When I got out of the truck at school, something silver caught my eye, and I walked to the back of the truck — carefully holding the side for support — to examine the tires.

"Bella, come look." I was crouching in front of the back tire, holding on to the truck.

She slowly came around the back of the truck, holding the side for support. When she what I was pointing at, she looked at the tire.

There were thin chains crisscrossed in diamond shapes around them. Dad had gotten up, earlier than me, to put snow chains on my truck.

"Mom would've never thought about putting them." My throat suddenly felt tight. I wasn't used to being taken care of, and dad's unspoken concern caught me by surprise. I knew it had caught Bella by surprise as well, when I looked at her, I could see it in her face.

I started to pull myself up, trying not to fall, when I heard an odd sound.

It was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud. We both looked up, startled.

I saw several things simultaneously. Nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it does in the movies.

Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make my brain work much faster, and I was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.

A dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of our truck, and we were standing between them. I felt Bella hugging me, trying to put her body in front of mine, she was protecting me.

This was it. They say that when you are about to die, life flashes through your eyes. But all I could think of, was how devastated mom was going to become, how I was just starting to really know dad, how Bella and I were going to break all the promises we once made to each other, we were never going to be each other's maid of honor, or godmothers to each first born. I guess, when faced with death, I thought more about future regrets than the past.

Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit us, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head cracked against the icy blacktop, and I felt a lot of weight pinning me to the ground, more than what Bella weights. I was lying on the pavement behind the tan car I'd parked next to. But I didn't have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still coming. It had curled gratingly around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding, was about to collide with us again.

Two long, white hands shot out protectively in front of us, and the van shuddered to a stop a foot from my face, the large hands fitting providentially into a deep dent in the side of the van's body.

Then the hands moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van, and something was dragging us, swinging my legs around like a rag doll's, till they hit the tire of the tan car. A groaning metallic thud hurt my ears, and the van settled, glass popping, onto the asphalt — exactly where, a second ago, my legs had been.

It was absolutely silent for one long second before the screaming began. In the abrupt bedlam, I could hear more than one person shouting our names. But more clearly than all the yelling, I could hear Edward Cullen's low, frantic voice.

"Bella? Cassie? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Bella's voice sounded strange. She tried to sit up.

That's when I realized he was holding us against the side of his body in an iron grasp.

"Be careful," he warned as she struggled. "Cassie, I think you hit your head pretty hard."

I didn't feel anything. "I'm fine."

He looked at me with disbelief.

"How in the…" Bella trailed off, she shook her head once before continuing. "How did you get over here so fast?"

"I was standing right next to you, Bella," he said, his tone serious again.

I tried to sit up, but he didn't let me, he continued to hold us.

"Cassie, you hit your head pretty hard, I don't think you should move."

"I said I'm fine." I tried to argue with him.

Edward finally let go of us, allowing Bella to sit up. However, when I tried, he held me down by the shoulder. He had a worried look on his face.

"Cassie." Bella gave me a pleading look, I don't know why she decided to side with him. I didn't feel anything wrong.

"Fine…" I hmphed.

"I need a neck brace. Now!" Edward yelled up. I hope that the school doesn't have one in the infirmary, I really hope.

Edward took his hand out of my shoulder and slid as far from us as he could in the limited space. He however put his cold hand against my ankle.

I could see both of them fixated in each other's eyes. Well, this was awkward.

"Edward. Would you mind removing your hand. I'm already getting cold by laying in the ground, and your ice-cold hand is not helping." That seemed to break their trance. He took his hand away.

Bella, started to remove her jacket, when he grabbed her arm. He removed his jacket, and laid it on to of me. It was odd, his jacket was cold.

"Mr. Cullen, here it is." I couldn't tell who had screamed at the other side. But I saw the neck brace flying to us. They had thrown it over the van. If Edward wasn't about to put that on me, I would actually laugh at the situation. He caught it in the air, without even looking at it.

He gave me a concerned look. For his face I didn't budge, then I looked at Bella's. Crap.

This thing itched.

"You were over there," Bella suddenly broke the silence. I had no idea what she was talking about. "You were by your car."

His expression turned hard. "No, I wasn't."

"I saw you." All around us was chaos. I could hear screaming.

"Bella, I was standing with you, and I pulled you both out of the way."

"No, you weren't." I jumped into the argument. I don't know exactly were he was prior to the accident, but I was sure as hell that he wasn't beside us. Why was he lying?

The gold in his eyes blazed. "Please, Bella, Cassie."

"Why?" My sister demanded.

"Trust me," he pleaded, his soft voice overwhelming.

Something told me it we were better off not knowing.

"Will you promise to explain everything to us later?" But Bella didn't seem to agree with me.

"Fine," he snapped, abruptly exasperated.

"Fine," Bella repeated angrily.

It took six EMTs and two teachers — Mr. Varner and Coach Clapp — to shift the van far enough away from us to bring the stretchers in. Edward vehemently refused his, and Bella tried to do the same, but he told them she took a hard fall, I could see her humiliation when they put on the neck brace.

To me it was even worse. Edward told them I had hit my head really hard, probably had a concussion and that I landed in a weird position with my head, so they had to be very careful maneuvering me. I could see the EMTs weren't happy with him bossing them around, but they listened to him, gently maneuvering me on the rigid board and then the stretcher. Apparently, the neck brace wasn't enough, because they added cushions beside my head.

When they were about to load me to a separate ambulance, I heard him.

"Bella! Cassie!" Dad yelled in panic.

"I'm completely fine, Dad," I sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me."

He turned to the closest EMT for a second opinion. I tuned him out, I still wasn't feeling anything, was that bad? When they'd lifted me away from the car, I had seen the deep dent in the tan car's bumper — a very distinct dent that fit the contours of Edward's shoulders… as if he had braced himself against the car with enough force to damage the metal frame…

I tried to think of a logical solution that could explain what we had just seen — a solution that excluded the assumption that we were insane. I understood Bella now. What Edward did, it was not humanly possible. What was he? As much as that question bothered me, my gut was telling me not to ask.

Naturally, the ambulance got a police escort to the county hospital. I didn't understand the need of all of this, it just felt ridiculous, I wasn't hurt. I ground my teeth together.

They took me in to the emergency room, I saw the white ceiling and the lights pass by me. Suddenly I stopped.

"Miss, my name is Dr. Carlisle Cullen, I will be your doctor today. Can you tell me your name and what happened?" I heard an angelic voice ask me. Followed by that voice came the face of a man. He was young, he was blond… and he was handsomer than any movie star I'd ever seen. He was pale, though, and tired-looking, with circles under his gold eyes. So, he was Dr. Cullen, now I get why dad joked about the nurses.

"My name is Cassandra Swan and there was a crash in the parking lot of the school, a van almost hit me."

"Are you hurting anywhere?"

"No, I'm fine." I really don't think I can continue to repeat that.

"Very good, Miss Swan. I'm going to examine you. If you feel any pain, please tell me." He gave me a smile.

While he was examining me, I felt a nurse try to prick my arm. "Tough skin." She chuckled. Yep, had heard that one before.

When he got to my head he slowed down, it was like he was expecting any sign of pain. But there were none. I wasn't feeling any pain.

"We are going to have to undress you." His face popped in my view once again. Seriously, how could anyone work with those golden eyes and Zeus like face staring at them, was beyond my comprehension.

Wait, gold eyes. Edward's eyes are golden, so are Jasper's. But aren't they all adopted? That shouldn't be possible.

Once they were done, they slowly turned me around. I felt warm hands in my head, and two other hands in my right side.

They put me back laying back down on the stretcher.

"We are going to take you to do some exams." Dr. Cullen said while some nurse put me in a hospital gown.

This was getting out of hand.

While they were taking me towards the exam room, I saw Edward. I gave him the meanest face I could master, considering I couldn't turn my head. This was all his fault…

Once they finished with my exam, I was taken back to the emergency room, this time they put my gurney next to Bella's.

Siting in front of her was Edward, he had a smug look on his face. Jerk.

"Misses Swan." Dr. Cullen was back, accompanied with a nurse. "Both of your exams are normal."

"Carlisle, Cassie's neck." Edward tried to argue with his father. The doctor. Really?

"Is fine, the CT showed that there's no spine or brain lesion and no fracture in the skull." He answered his son. Dr. Cullen and the nurse took turns in turning me, so they could get the rigid board from under me. That was a relief. He then took my neck brace and the cushions from the side of my head. I was finally free to move!

I sat up, before I could even think about getting down of the gurney, I had my arms full of Bella.

"I'm okay, sis. I swear" I whispered in her har. She hugged me even harder. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She slowly let go of me. The smile on her face disappeared. "Never scare me like that again."

She hit me. What? "Ouch."

I heard a chuckle.

"You." There was a little bit more od venom in my voice that I had anticipated. "Because of you, I'm currently wearing just a hospital gown." He looked at me perplexed. "But thank you, for saving us."

He didn't answer me, just nodded.

"Cassie, I'm so sorry." I heard a voice say, I looked behind Bella and saw Tyler, he was in my biology class. So, apparently, the van was his.

"I'm fine. Don't worry." I smiled at him.

"Well, your father is in the waiting room — you can go home with him now." Dr. Cullen turned to me. "Miss Swan, come back if you feel dizzy, have trouble with your eyesight at all, or start to feel numbing."

"Can't we go back to school?" Bella asked, of course she was trying to spear us more humiliation.

"Maybe you should take it easy today."

I glanced at Edward. "Does he get to go to school?"

"Someone has to spread the good news that we survived," Edward said smugly.

"Actually," Dr. Cullen corrected, "most of the school seems to be in the waiting room."

"Oh no," Bella moaned, covering her face with her hands. I wasn't the only one that chuckled.

Dr. Cullen raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to stay?"

"No, no!" She insisted

"Take some Tylenol in case you feel any pain," he suggested looking at me.

"I'm fine," I insisted.

"It sounds like you both were extremely lucky," Dr. Cullen said, smiling as he signed both our charts with a flourish.

"Lucky Edward happened to be standing next to me," Bella amended with a hard glance at the subject of her statement.

"Oh, well, yes," Dr. Cullen agreed, suddenly occupied with the papers in front of him. Then he looked away, at Tyler, and walked to the next bed. My intuition flickered; the doctor was in on it.

"I'm afraid that you'll have to stay with us just a little bit longer," he said to Tyler, and began checking his cuts.

I went to the bathroom with a bag of clothes they took from me. When I got out, I saw Bella and Edward glaring at each other.

He suddenly turned his back and strode down the long room. Bella started to follow him, then stopped to look pleadingly at me. With a sight I followed them. We nearly had to run to keep up. Soon as we turned the corner into a short hallway, he spun around to face us.

"What do you want?" he asked, sounding annoyed. His eyes were cold.

His unfriendliness intimidated me.

"You owe us an explanation," she reminded him.

"I saved your lives — I don't owe you anything."

We both flinched back from the resentment in his voice. "You promised."

Fear started to creep up on me. Bella, let it go.

He continued to glared. "What do you want from me, Bella?"

"We want to know the truth," she said. "We want to know why we are lying for you."

She was putting words on my mouth. I didn't want to know. And something told me, we were better off not knowing.

"What do you think happened?" he snapped.

"All we know is that you weren't anywhere near us — Cassie and Tyler didn't see you, either. That van was going to crush us all — and it didn't, and your hands left dents in the side of it — and you left a dent in the other car, and you're not hurt at all — and the van should have smashed Cassie's legs, but you were holding it up…" As much as I wanted to just call her crazy and end things, she was right. All she said was true. But still, I didn't want to know his secret.

He was staring at us incredulously. But his face was tense, defensive.

"You think I lifted a van off you?" He looked at me, his tone questioned Bella's sanity. That really wasn't helping his case, I could tell it only made Bella more suspicious.

I wanted so badly to shake my head, to deny, like I knew he wanted me to. But I couldn't, because it was true, and I didn't want my sister to feel like I wasn't on her side. So, I nodded.

"Nobody will believe that, you know." His voice held an edge of derision now.

The fear was increasing. I felt like we were poking an irritated grizzly bear. I wanted so badly to run. His whole demeanor screamed 'Be afraid of me.', 'Run from me', 'I will kill you.' I really didn't get why Bella wasn't scared.

"We are not going to tell anybody." Bella said each word slowly. Well, she was right there.

Surprise flitted across his face. "Then why does it matter?"

"It matters to us," She insisted. "I don't like to lie — so there'd better be a good reason why we're doing it."

"Can't you just thank me and get over it?"

"Thank you." Bella said very quickly. Then there was silence. I could tell Bella was waiting for him to explain.

"You're not going to let it go, are you?"

"No."

"In that case… I hope you enjoy disappointment."

They scowled at each other in silence.

Bella was the first to speak. "Why did you even bother?" She asked frigidly.

He paused, and for a brief moment his stunning face was unexpectedly vulnerable.

"Maybe I shouldn't have," he whispered.

And then he turned his back on us and walked away.

Ouch. God, there weren't enough words to describe the hate I had for that guy now. Yeah, he saved us. But he had promised Bella answer, even though I didn't want to hear it. And now he just dropped the bomb saying he shouldn't have saved us and then just walked away.

And Bella, God!

"Why did you do that?" I was so angry.

"I want to know why I'm lying. Don't you?" She looked angry. Great, now everyone was angry.

"No. What ever the hell his, their, secret is. It's dangerous."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. You just had to look at his face. And I mean, really look, see past the beauty and such. It like a predator looking at his prey."

"He's not dangerous." She tried to argue with me.

"God. If you stop being an idiot for one second and stop being so enamored by him, you would see it." I couldn't take it anymore, so, I turned around and went to find dad in the waiting room.

In the waiting room I saw almost every face we knew in Forks there, staring at me, at us. Dad rushed to my side; I don't know what came over me, but I hugged him.

"There's nothing wrong with us," I heard Bella say.

"What did the doctor say?"

"Dr. Cullen saw us both, and he said we are fine and we can go home." I sighed, I still hadn't let go of him.

"Let's go," I heard Bella urge us. I was forced to let go of dad.

I looked up and waved at my friends, hoping to convey that they didn't need to worry anymore. It was a huge relief— the first time I'd ever felt that way — to get into the cruiser. We drove in silence.

When we got to the house, dad finally spoke.

"Um… you'll need to call Renée." He hung his head, guilty.

I was appalled. "You told Mom!" I heard Bella groan in the back seat.

"Sorry."

Bella slammed the cruiser's door a little harder than necessary on her way out. She got to the house and picked up the phone. I stood behind her, while she talked to mom. I think she repeated at least thirty times 'I'm fine', which would be quite hilarious, if I wasn't so angry. When Bella passed me the phone, she barely looked at me. I talked to mom for about an hour, the first half was just me reassuring her.

When I turned off the phone, I went to find Bella.

Yes, I was angry at her, but I just couldn't take her being angry at me. Especially since I called her an 'idiot'.

I found her already lying in bed, with her back to the door. I didn't know if she was awake so I decided to go around her bed to see.

When I got there, I saw that she was crying.

I knew she was angry, but I didn't think she got to the point of tears.

"Bella." She refused to look me in the eyes. "Bella, please."

"I don't know why I'm so consumed with this mystery." She whispered.

I didn't know what to say to that, so I decided to apologize. "I'm sorry I called you an idiot." She just shrugged her shoulders. Guess that's her way of saying she doesn't forgive me. I don't understand why she is so obsessed with them. "How about this. I help you solve this mystery, and you forgive me." I knew I couldn't ask her to stay away from them, not yet at least. I needed more than just a gut feeling to convince her that they are dangerous.

She smiled at me.

I gave her a kiss in the forehead before going to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Guess we have a mystery to solve.

* * *

 **Every body, please READ and REVIEW. The more you review the faster I'll post a new chapter.**

 **Thank you for reading.**

 **If you like Charmed, go check out my other story: The Queen's Knights. And if you like Fast and Furious got check out Family Above All.**

 **Thank You**

 **See you soon**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi! Thank you for the reviews! Sorry for any spelling mistake!**

* * *

Two weeks. Two weeks had passed since the accident. I could not believe the nerve of that guy! Ugh! I was usually a very patient person, but I was on the verge of killing Jasper Hale. At the same time, I was scared to get with in 10 feet of him, or any of his siblings. Well, I guess I will just have to settle for killing Tyler Crowley.

Man, that guy just couldn't take a hint. I mean, I understand that at first, he was trying to make it up to us for almost killing us. But it's been two weeks and he still had yet to leave me alone. I couldn't go to the bathroom without him waiting for me on the other side of the door. I tried to get him to understand that I wasn't interested, but he just did not get it. And that just made things worse with Lauren. She was already a bitch, who apparently had a crush on Tyler, and who already did not like me.

The only good side of this last two weeks is that Bella had forgiven me. The only problem was that, whenever we got home, she wanted to theorize about 'Cullen Mystery'. I guess that wasn't a good side then…

I felt like my head was going to explode.

At school, I was always worried/scared about the Cullens and Hales and pissed at Tyler. At home, I had to pretend to want to help Bella, all the while thinking about my history assignment and my biology grade, that just didn't stop falling.

I was in so much trouble.

And Jasper Hale was not helping. He refused to answer any email I sent him after the accident. So, all I had about the assignment was mine, Bella's, dad's and mom's entire stories, plus bit and pieces of grandma Marie's, grandma's Helen and grandpa Geoffrey's stories. He hadn't lifted a finger to help. Jerk.

I don't know how I would find out more. I mean, dad's side of the tree would be easy, considering his family was from Forks. But mom's? She couldn't even tell me the name of her father. He had apparently left grandma Marie before mom was even born. And mom had sold almost everything of her mother after she passed away 5 years ago. I didn't know where to start with her side of the family, but I knew where I could begin the search for dad's.

So, gathering every ounce of courage in my body I approached Jasper and Alice.

The couple was standing in front of her locker. They were a bit to close, according to the school's politics, but I don't think they cared. They were whispering to each other quietly, they seemed to be having a very fast paced conversation. Suddenly, he turned and gave me the most murderous look I had ever scene. He also took a step forward, getting in front of his girlfriend. It was like he was trying to protect her… from me.

I took a deep breath before taking the final steps. I was now about a foot from him.

"Since you are not answering the emails I sent. Here's is the update, the only document I sent to you if the most updated version I have, so, today, after class, I will be going to the town's records to find more. I refuse to put your name on the paper, if you do not help, so, do something." I tried to sound brave while saying this, but I don't think I was really successful. Without giving him a chance to answer I turned around and left.

I had history now, so I rushed to the room to get a seat somewhere safe from him. I, thankfully, found one surrounded by class mates.

The rest of the school day was uneventful.

Bella dropped me off at the town's hall, since it was right across the street from the Police department, I was going to get a ride home from dad.

Once I got there the secretary, Miss Hill, let me in. She was a middle age woman, with kind blue eyes, behind round purple glasses, who didn't seem to want to let go of her youth, since her sense of style was a bit 1980ish. She showed me were the records were and left, apparently the dust set out her allergies, poor lady.

Since I knew my dad was born here, I found his birth certificate and started to trace it back from there. It wasn't too hard; the worst part was writing it all down in my notebook, I wish I had a laptop. Grandpa Geoffrey and Grandma Helen had quite an interesting life, unfortunately they died young, 3 years after Bella and I were born, I guess that's why we don't remember them.

I didn't even realize how much time had passes when dad showed up. At first, I was happy, but then I realized Jasper hadn't shown up, and I got pissed.

Dad was able to sense that I was mad, so he didn't say a word in the car. I really loved the fact he didn't hover like mom.

When we got home, Bella, had a lasagna ready for us. We all ate in silence.

After dinner I took a quick shower and tried to study biology. I say 'tried' because as soon as Bella saw me siting in my desk she started to talk about the theory of the day.

"I had a dream, what if…"

"Bella, stop." I cut her off. "I don't understand your obsession, but I promised I would help, and I am. But I need to study biology. You know I'm not good at it, and my lab partner doesn't even show up to class. I got an F on my quiz. And if I don't study more, I am going to fail. So please, help me." I begged her.

That seemed to snap her out of her obsession, for now. She sat on my bed with me and helped me study. She was an amazing teacher. She was even able to get me up to date.

I went to sleep that night tired. I was glad Bella had helped me. But I was still mad at Hale. How could he just abandon the assignment like that? I guess I would have to talk to the teacher tomorrow. I didn't want to do it, but I refused to give credit to someone who did not deserve.

When I got to school the next morning, I saw some papers hanging from my locker.

 **I was able to get more information on your maternal grandfather and on your step dad. What did you find out last night? – Jasper**

I looked at the papers and saw my grandparents wedding certificate, photos and some other stuff.

I guess Jasper Hale wasn't such a jerk. But I was still mad at him for not showing up.

Since he was helping, I decided that after school I was going to update the document with our assignment and send it to him. That way he would know where I was with the search on my father's family.

In biology we had a pop quiz, and thanks to Bella's teaching last night I was able to get an A. Which made me really happy.

Bella, dad and I soon found a routine that fit everyone perfectly. Once a week, she would drop me off at the town hall. Where I would try to find information on my family, dad would then pick me up and we would go home. After dinner, Bella would help me with homework and biology. The other days we would study and do our homework together and after dinner talk about the 'Cullen Mystery'.

Jasper Hale now answered my emails. Thankfully. Yet he still didn't come close or loose the murderous look on his face. I guess we can't always win at everything.

* * *

It was two weeks later that I found something quite interesting in the town's records.

I was looking at information about my great grandparents and early days of my grandparent's life's, during the 1930, when I found an article that talked about how the new doctor in town saved a woman from, what looked like a fatale wound caused by a car crash. My great-grandfather, Charles Swan, was the editor of the newspaper, and the woman saved was his wife, Mildred Swan.

The doctor's name was Carlisle Cullen, and there was even a picture of him. The picture was not in the best quality, but there was no doubt that it was the same doctor that attended to mine and Bella's injuries after the near fatale accident in the parking lot. It was Edward's and Jasper's adopted father.

How the hell was that possible? How could he look the same as he did 75 years ago?

I started to look for more information during the year he was there, but there was none. All I could find was that a young woman, named Margaret Yalie, died of an abnormal animal attack. Looks like it runs in the family the love for the Cullens, I also found a news edit, from two weeks prior to finding the body of the girl, that my great-grandfather wrote. In it, he thanked Dr. Carlisle Cullen for his service in the small town of Forks.

I tried to find more about his disappearance when dad called me, so that we could go home.

When I got home, I realized I hadn't found much for the assignment, having lost focus because of the Cullens.

Opening our bedroom door, I Bella was on the phone with somebody, I could see from his face she was not enjoying the conversation. I dropped my bag at my bed and started to type what I had found today. By the time I was done, Bella was already downstairs finishing our dinner, so I quickly sent an email to Jasper and joined her.

"Who was that on the phone?" I inquired when we got to our bedroom after dinner.

"Jessica."

"What did Stanley want?" To her face I tried to pretend to like her, but I truly didn't.

"She wanted my permission to ask Mike to the Spring Dance." I couldn't hold the laugh, I could only imagine Bella trying and failing to dance. "Don't laugh at me, you know that if you tried to dance you would also fall into your face." That got me to stop… she was right, unfortunately.

Bella and I quickly started studying. I thought about telling her what I had found, but chose against it. She didn't believe them to be dangerous, and telling her, that Carlisle saved our great-grandmother from death was not going to help my case.

On the next day things did not go smoothly.

It started with Vince Francis being in class.

"You don't have to wait until the end of class to ask me, you know." I turned towards him, surprised that he wasn't asleep. He had a smug face. I don't have a doubt he thought of himself as invincible.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, I know you want to ask me to the dance, you know." I looked at him like the crazy head he is. "You don't have to worry, there's no way I would turn down a hot body like yours. Maybe I could show you a bit of fun."

He didn't not just say that. Oh my God. As much as I wanted to answer at the same level or worst, I choose the high road.

"I'm sorry Vince," his name almost didn't come out. I wanted so badly to curse. "I don't know who told you I was interested, but I don't plan on going, I don't plan on even being here at said date."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. My sister and I are going to Seattle that weekend." Thankfully I had overheard Bella telling Jess she was going to Seattle as an excuse to escape the dance.

"Oh." Was he really that dumb? I turned my face back to Mr. Banner, trying to catch up on what I lost. As much as I tried to concentrate, there was something Vince said that got me thinking. Who told him I wanted to ask him? When I looked at my side, I saw him already fast asleep. Idiot.

I left biology with that question on my head. Who told him that? Who was setting me up? Who wanted to screw me over? Those questions did not leave my head the entire morning. During the class breaks I tried to find Bella, not only so she would help me think, but also because I had to warn her that I was now going with her to Seattle.

At lunch, I was walking towards our table, when I saw her. In that moment I knew who had set me up with Vince. Took me a little longer than I would like to admit, but there was no way in hell I was letting her know this. I dropped my bag in the empty chair next to Bella, and quickly took my sister's arms, so that she would accompany me to the line.

"That bitch. Lauren told Vince Francis, my good for nothing biology partner, that I wanted to ask him to the dance." I whispered to her. She looked like she wanted to laugh, but the look I gave her got her serious.

"What did you tell him?"

"I wanted so badly to curse him, and so much more, you have no idea what he said to me, sis. Horrible. Disgusting. But I was able to control myself, I told him that we were going to Seattle on that date. By the way, when is this dance?" She gave a sigh.

"In two weeks."

"I'm going to get Lauren back, I just don't know how yet." Bella gave a small chuckle and followed me back to the table.

For the rest of the day I kept thinking of ways to get Lauren back. Nothing I thought seemed good enough. I didn't want to humiliate her in front of the school. Just teach her a lesson, and get her to stop hating me, well, I think that was not going to work if I played a prank on her.

When the last bell rang, I got the parking lot and saw my sister talking to Eric. Just by her face I could tell he was asking her to the dance. Seriously, what is wrong with these boys, don't they understand 'girls pick'. Idiots.

I saw Edward Cullen walk in front of our truck. This simple fact was able to get my sister from being annoyed to being irritated. That boy really needed to leave my sister alone. He was not doing her any good.

He got in his shiny, beautiful, silver Volvo. Just because I didn't like him, doesn't mean I don't appreciate his car.

I could see the rest of the Cullen clan coming out of the cafeteria, they were going to cross paths with me, if I didn't move. Not wanting to face the wrath of the Hale siblings and their murderous looks, I quickly jogged to the truck. Somehow, I made it there in one piece. Apparently, I can run without tripping when motivated… by fear. Okay, I'll admit it, I'm a chicken. But after a month of receiving deadly looks from Jasper and Rosalie Hale, and that weird talk outside of the ER with Edward and Carlisle's picture, anyone would be.

"Jesus, sis, slow down." I didn't even have time to close the door before my sister was turning on the truck and putting in reverse. I was putting on my seatbelt when we stopped. When I looked up, I saw my sister's fuming face and Cullen's shiny Volvo.

He was blocking us in. Jerk. Did he seriously decide to wait for his family right there? Was he an idiot?

I suddenly heard a tapping on my window. It was Tyler Crowley. The window was stiff. I got it halfway down, then gave up.

"I'm sorry, Tyler, I'm stuck behind Cullen." Bella was annoyed. If he had come here to blame us he was stupider than he looked.

"Oh, I know — I just wanted to ask you something while we're trapped here." He grinned. "Will you ask me to the spring dance?" he continued.

"I'm not going to be in town, Tyler." Bella's voice sounded a little sharp.

Seriously, he followed me like a lost puppy for a month and now asks my sister to ask him to the dance. While I'm in the car with her? In the middle of the two? What am I? Invisible?

"What the hell is your problem? You follow me around for a month, and today you decide to stop and ask my sister to the dance?" I couldn't tell whether I was astonished by guts this guy had or repulsed by his actions.

"I wanted to ask you," he admitted. "But Lauren told me you were going with Vince Francis."

"Ugh! That… that bi-"

"Cassie!"

I took a deep breath before explaining to Tyler, after all it was not his fault.

"I don't know why Lauren decided to start spreading the rumor around, I guess she is just a bad person and likes to hurt people, but I don't like Vince Francis, and I'm 100% sure I don't want to go to the dance with him." I said in the calmest voice I could master. As if, I was trying to explain this to a 2 year-old.

"So, will you ask me to the dance?" He grinned.

Seriously? Are you serious?

"Like Bella said, we are going to be out of town on that weekend." I was trying to hold back my mood, but for those who knew me, it was quite clear, I was annoyed.

"That's cool. We still have prom." He turned to leave, but before he could I grabbed his arm.

"No!" He looked hurt by my outburst. So, I tried it again after a deep breath to calm me down. "No. I'm sorry Tyler, but I don't like you that way. I don't think we would work. So, there will be no prom to us."

I let go of his arm and turned to my sister, ignoring the broken-hearted boy in the window and begging her to pass over the Volvo to get us out of here. She was able to understand the last part and revved the engine.

The Hales looked at us with their perpetual murderous look. But for the first time, I was not bothered. Because of those 4 idiots I just had to break a guy's heart. If Edward Cullen hadn't trapped us and I hadn't opened my mouth none of this would have happened.

When the four siblings slid into the car it speeded away. Bella drove home slowly, I could tell she was pissed. She was muttering something under her breath but I couldn't hear it.

Mom always used to say Bella and I were always in tune with one another, like we shared feeling and thoughts. Phil said it was because we were twins. This didn't happen often. But the times that it did happen, I don't think it was because we were twins, I think it was because we were so a like and knew each other so well, that we ended up needing the same things.

When we got home, it happened. Bella and I walked silently towards the front door. While she unlooked it, I took her backpack from her. Putting them down in our room, I started to work. With a little trouble I got the nightstand under the window and started pushing our beds together. Bella was already in the room by now but she was holding a tray of junk food, so she wasn't much help.

Once I finished, I grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a matching hoodie, and got changed in the bathroom. When I returned to the room, Bella was in a similar outfit, but had with a sweatshirt instead of a hoodie. The tray was in between our beds. We both laid in opposites directions across the middle of the bed, our feet were dangling to the floor and our head were separated by the tray of junk food.

We each took a bowl of ice cream and a spoon to ourselves. Mine's flavor was cookie dough, while Bella's was strawberry. Both of us were staring at the ceiling while eating, just enjoying each other's presence.

"That was mean what you did to Lauren."

"I know." I sighed. "I know it was petty, and mean, and childish. But, God, it felt good. I really hope Tyler thinks twice before accepting her invitation to the dance." We both chuckled.

"Both Mike and Eric asked me to the dance. It was annoying. And Eric knew I had told Mike I would be out of town, and he said he thought I was trying to let Mike down easily."

"Technically, we kind of are. We are just avoiding saying 'no'. Because, men don't understand the word 'no', for them, there had to always be an explanation after. Plus, we are two softies, who hate hurting other people. Especially you."

I turned my head at her and saw a look that was quite unusual for Bell's. She wanted me to shut up, because she knew I was right.

"Don't forget Tyler." I added.

"Tyler only asked me, because you were already 'spoken for'." She tried to make air quotes with her hands while holding the spoon but it only caused it to fall on her face. "Ouch!" That really got me laughing. I felt her give me a soft hit on the head.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I tried to control my laugh. "You are right, he only asked you because Lauren started a rumor about me. So, I guess he's the worst one."

"Agree."

There was silence again. I stopped eating ice cream and opened a package of Doritos. I liked eating sweet and the salty things, and then return to sweet. I guess my taste buds were weird.

"I was so mad. At Vince, at Lauren, at Tyler, and then the Cullens, Edward for blocking us in and Jasper for looking at me with so much hate and refusing to talk to me about the assignment."

"Tell me about. In biology, Edward was rude to me, again. I told him he shouldn't have save us, and the look he gave me. It was horrible, Cassie. The worst part was that he was laughing, at the entire altercation with Tyler he was looking at us with his review mirror and was laughing. As if he could hear us."

"Great. Another thing to add to our list of Cullen's weirdness: Super hearing." When I said that I tried to pretend I was saying the name of the super-hero in those old cheesy television shows.

That got a laugh out of both of us. Now that we both had let it out of our systems, we stayed quiet, just enjoying each other's presence.

When dad got home, we apologized for not having dinner ready and decided to call for a pizza.

When he was almost done with his dinner, Bella and I exchanged a look.

"Dad?" I asked.

"Yeah, Cassie?"

"Um, we just wanted to let you know that we are going to Seattle for the day a week from Saturday… if that's okay?" She didn't seem to want to ask permission.

"Why?" He sounded surprised, as if he were unable to imagine something that Forks couldn't offer.

"Well, Bella wanted to get few books — the library here is pretty limited — and I wanted to look at some clothes. Phoenix didn't have much to offer for this weather, you know." I knew that Bella and I both had more money than what we were used to having, since, thanks to Charlie, we hadn't had to pay for a car. Not that the truck didn't cost us quite a bit in the gas department.

"That truck probably doesn't get very good gas mileage," he said, echoing my thoughts.

"We know, we'll stop in Montesano and Olympia — and Tacoma if we have to." Bella tried to reassure him.

"Is it just the two of you?" he asked, and I couldn't tell if he was suspicious, we each had a secret boyfriend or just worried about car trouble.

"Yes." I answered with a smile.

"Seattle is a big city — you could get lost," he fretted.

"Dad, Phoenix is five times the size of Seattle — and we can read a map, don't worry about it." I took his hand over the table and give it a squeeze.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"That's all right, Dad, it will probably just be dressing rooms and library all day — very boring."

"Oh, okay." The thought of sitting in women's clothing stores for any period of time immediately put him off.

"Thanks." We smiled at him and then at each other. Mission accomplished.

"Will you be back in time for the dance?" Abort. Abort!

Only in a town this small would a father know when the high school dances were.

"No — we don't dance, Dad." He, of all people, should understand that — we didn't get my balance problems from my mother.

He did understand. "Oh, that's right," he realized.

The next morning, Bella pulled into the parking lot, I could tell she deliberately parked as far as possible from the silver Volvo. I wished she had run them over.

I got out of the cab. By the time I got to my sister's side, he was there. Edward Cullen, leaning casually against our truck. I hope he slips and falls.

He looked at me and gave me a grin before turning back towards my sister. I really did not understand that guy.

"How do you do that?" Bella asked in irritation.

"Do what?" He held Bella's key out as he spoke.

I looked on while they spoke, waiting for my sister to tell him to go away. But it never happened, instead I saw her look down and away from him.

So, I decided to come to her rescue. "Why the traffic jam last night?" I demanded, "I thought you all hated us."

"That was for Tyler's sake, not mine. I had to give him his chance." He snickered.

"You…" I gasped. I couldn't think of a bad enough word. It felt like my anger could physically take him, but he only seemed more amused.

"So you are trying to irritate me to death? Since Tyler's van didn't do the job?" Bella saved me. I really wanted to beat him.

Anger flashed in his tawny eyes. His lips pressed into a hard line, all signs of humor gone.

"Bella, you are utterly absurd," he said, his low voice cold.

That got Bella angry, as angry as me. So I took her arms in mine and we, synchronized, turned our backs on him to walk away. Somehow, we accomplished that without falling.

"Wait," he called. We kept walking, sloshing angrily through the rain. But he was next to us, easily keeping pace. "I'm sorry, that was rude," We ignored him. "I'm not saying it isn't true," he continued, "but it was rude to say it, anyway."

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Bella grumbled.

"I wanted to ask you something, but you both sidetracked me," he chuckled. He seemed to have recovered his good humor.

"Do you have a multiple personality disorder?" I asked severely.

"You're doing it again." He pointed at me.

Bella sighed. "Fine then. What do you want to ask?"

"I was wondering if, a week from Saturday — you know, the day of the spring dance —"

"Are you trying to be funny?" Bella interrupted him, she let go of my arm and wheeled toward him. She had to look up to look at his face.

His eyes were wickedly amused. "Will you please allow me to finish?"

I raised my right eyebrow at him, I couldn't see Bella, but she seemed to have allowed him to talk, since he continued.

"I heard you say you both were going to Seattle that day, and I was wondering if you guys wanted a ride."

That was unexpected.

"What?" I wasn't sure what he was getting at.

"Do you want a ride to Seattle?"

"With who?" Bella asked, mystified.

"Myself, obviously." He enunciated every syllable, as if he were talking to someone mentally handicapped.

"No." I refused to enter a car with him. Last time he looked at us like he wanted to kill us, then his siblings try to stare at us to death, I find that picture of his father and now he is being nice. I don't know what is their secret, but I refuse to enter their game. Plus, the feeling that they are dangerous is still in the front of my brain. What if, he was being nice because I found that picture of his father? What if, it was all just a lie to get us in the car with them so they would kill us all?

Edward turned to me. I felt violated by the way he was staring at me. It was like he was looking into my soul. I looked down.

Bella apparently didn't hear my answer, and asked him something herself. "Why?"

"Well, I was planning to go to Seattle in the next few weeks, and, to be honest, I'm not sure if your truck can make it."

"Our truck works just fine, thank you very much for your concern." Bella started to walk again. I was right beside her, hoping that Edward would take my 'no' and leave us alone.

"But can your truck make it there on one tank of gas?" He matched our pace again. Leave us alone!

"I don't see how that is any of your business." Bella muttered.

"The wasting of finite resources is everyone's business."

"Honestly, Edward, I can't keep up with you. I thought you didn't want to be my friend." I remember my sister saying he said something like that to her one day.

"I said it would be better if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want to be."

"Oh, thanks, now that's all cleared up. The answer is still no." Heavy sarcasm. I pulled Bella's arms so she would start walking again. I just wanted to get to class so he would leave us alone.

"It would be more… prudent for you not to be my friend," he explained. "But I'm tired of trying to stay away from you, Bella."

She stopped, again.

Great, now I'm the third wheel. As much as I want to get as far away from Edward and his secret, I do not want to leave Bella alone with him.

"Will you go with me to Seattle?" he asked, still intense.

Bella nodded.

 _Bella nodded_.

 _ **Bella nodded**_!

What the hell is her problem?

I'm going to kill her myself at home.

I can't let my sister go with this crazy guy on this trip. I really hate her right now. I can't believe she is forcing my hand in this.

The worst part was that she didn't even look at me. It was like she was so entranced by him that I didn't even exist.

Edward finally looked away from Bella and looked at me. "You are invited to, Cassie. Hope to see you there."

That seemed to break my sister out of her trance. She turned and looked at me. I refused to look at her.

Before she could say anything, Edward warned us. "You both really should stay away from me." And then smiled at Bella's direction. "See you in class, Bella."

I was just so angry. I just turned around and walked to my class.

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5

I got to biology and saw Vince Francis sleeping, I let my books hit the desk, waking him up. "Oh, sorry, did I wake you, from your precious nap?" I knew I wasn't angry at him, but I just couldn't help myself.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" he smirked at me. "Want some help?"

"Like I would ever have you help me. I would much rather die."

"Maybe you should."

What an asshole. I wanted so badly to hit him.

Before I could answer Mr. Banner started talking.

"Okay, guys, I want you all to take one piece from each box," he said as he produced a pair of rubber gloves from the pocket of his lab jacket and pulled them on. The sharp sound as the gloves snapped into place against his wrists seemed ominous to me. "The first should be an indicator card," he went on, grabbing a white card with four squares marked on it and displaying it. "The second is a four-pronged applicator —" he held up something that looked like a nearly toothless hair pick "— and the third is a sterile micro-lancet." He held up a small piece of blue plastic and split it open.

"I'll be coming around with a dropper of water to prepare your cards, so please don't start until I get to you." He began at Lauren's table again, carefully putting one drop of water in each of the four squares. "Then I want you to carefully prick your finger with the lancet…" He grabbed Lauren's hand and jabbed the spike into the tip of her middle finger. She flinched. Her face was starting to turn green. Oh, this was going to be good. She looked like she was about to puke when she rained it. Crap, there goes my amusement of the day.

"Put a small drop of blood on each of the prongs." He demonstrated, squeezing Lauren's finger till the blood flowed.

"And then apply it to the card," he finished, holding up the dripping red card for us to see. I closed my eyes, trying to hear through the ringing in my ears.

"The Red Cross is having a blood drive in Port Angeles next weekend, so I thought you should all know your blood type." He sounded proud of himself. "Those of you who aren't eighteen yet will need a parent's permission — I have slips at my desk."

He continued through the room with his water drops.

I looked to the side and saw that Vince was already sleeping. Disturbing. I really hoped he would drop out of school soon, that way I wouldn't have to seat next to his sloppy sleeping form during biology.

I took the four-pronged applicator and jabbed my finger, nothing happened. I jabbed harder. Again nothing. Weird. The third time I put the applicator against my skin and started to press it down. Skin still did not break.

"Cassie, don't push to hard or you will hurt yourself." Mr. Banner had arrived at our table. He didn't even acknowledge sleeping beauty beside me.

"I jabbed it a couple of times, but I couldn't pierce my skin."

"You probably didn't prick it hard enough because you were scared of hurting yourself. Here. Let me try." Mr. Banner took the four-pronged applicator and jabbed my middle finger. Again, nothing happened. "Huh, it must not be to sharp, let me get another one."

He left me alone again. I couldn't believe this was happening. Everyone around me was already analyzing their blood. I was the only one to yet get a drop of blood.

I started to remember all the times a nurse said her skin was tough, and how they always had to put more pressure to pierce her skin. Was there something wrong with her skin?

Mr. Banner returned. He took my left middle finger and tried to prick it. When nothing happened, he tried a second time, harder, way harder. Blood finally started to flow out.

"There, Cassie. Did you understand all the steps?"

"Yes, Mr. Banner. Thank you." After preparing my card with a drop of water he left me alone, well as alone as I could get with sleeping beauty next to me.

The rest of the class went on smoothly, I had already known my blood type, but still, it was fun. It had distracted me from the whole Bella and Edward ordeal. Until I got to history, and saw Hale. He was sitting on one corner of the room, so I choose the farthest seat available.

But today, things did not want to work in my favor. The teacher, Mrs. Gilmore, had some sort of car trouble and couldn't make it, and since Forks was such a small town there was no substitute teacher. So, the secretary, Ms. Cope, was supposed to watch us during this period and make sure we behave. And since she couldn't teach us anything, she told us to get with our pairs and work on our assignment.

So now, I was sitting next to Jasper Hale. He refused to say anything, or even look at me.

I just gave a sight and opened my notebook, there was nothing I could do. All the information I knew was already on the document, to gather more was only via google or the town's hall.

I looked around and saw that most of the class was talking in groups, completely ignoring Ms. Cope request to work on our assignment. And she also didn't seem to mind, she was sitting at the teacher's desk just reading a magazine.

I decided I wasn't going to be the first one to talk, so I took my notebook and started working on the English assignment that was due next week.

Soon the bell rang. I put my stuff away and angrily left the class.

A whole period beside me and he refused to even acknowledge me, what a jerk.

Without a doubt my day got even worse during lunch. When I got to the cafeteria, I saw my sister sitting with Edward Cullen.

What the hell was her problem? How could she not see they were dangerous? Why was she falling for his idiotic charms?

He looked up to me and gave me a smile, waving, for me to join them. I saw my sister turn around. She looked at me pleadingly.

No.

I was still too pissed at her about this morning.

And I refuse to be pulled into another one of their conversation.

I looked around. Our usual table was divided into staring ad Bella and Edward and at me. While the Cullens table were all looking at opposite directions, both the Hales were looking pissed.

I knew that if I seated with my friends they would bombard me with questions. And I refused to seat with Bella and the jerk.

The two were still looking at me. Waiting.

I just turned around.

I knew I was being a jerk and a chicken, but I just couldn't take it.

I really thought coming to Forks was a good idea, but now all I wanted was to disappear.

I got to the truck. At first, I considered driving off, but I knew that Bella would then have to get a ride, and it would most likely be from either Edward or Mike. As much as I was pissed at her I didn't hate her.

After a while I laid my head on the steering wheel.

I didn't even realize I started crying. At first, it was because I was mad at Bella, Edward, Vince, Lauren, Tyler and Jasper. I was frustrated with them. But what was making me really tick was Bella forcing my hand. I didn't want to go to Seattle with Edward, and I didn't want to go to the dance. But she said yes. I we had already told Charlie we were going together so know I wouldn't be able to stay at home.

I suddenly felt a hand caressing my back and another one getting my hair out of my face.

I didn't even hear the door open.

I looked at my left and saw Bella, she had her mom smile on. She always smiled at me like that whenever I was crying. It always made me feel warm.

"Cassie, what's wrong? Talk to me. Please." Bella pleaded.

I wanted to tell her, but I just didn't know how to. Anyway, I tried it, I would be the bad guy. I was the one that didn't trust the Cullens, I was the one that thought they were dangerous. I was the one that would prevent Edward from accompanying us to Seattle.

Before I could answer her, Edward appeared behind her. He must have followed her from the cafeteria.

"Cassie, I'm sorry I forced myself on your trip to Seattle. I understand you are not comfortable having me around. I just can't seem to stay away from your sister." Great, thanks. Make me the bad guy here. You just had to waltz in and make it even worse.

"I didn't mean that way. I just meant that you don't know me, even Bella doesn't know me. And so maybe it would be better if our first interaction wouldn't be stuck in a car for about 3 hours. Plus, you and your sister had already planned this trip, I shouldn't have imposed."

It was like he had heard my mind. I didn't quite understand this guy.

I couldn't see Bella's face anymore, since she was now facing Edward. But I could tell from her stance she was relaxed.

I got my backpack and started to get out of the truck.

Bella turned around and took a step back, giving me space to leave the truck. Edward and Bella were now less than a foot apart.

When I looked at him, he was staring at my sister, and his eyes were darker. My sister had written about their eyes in our 'Cullen Mystery' list. But I had yet to see it. Until now. Earlier, when he was apologizing, his eyes were light gold, and now, dark gold.

When I got out of the truck Bella whipped my tears away with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. No one said a word, while she cleaned of my face.

I knew my eyes must be really red and puffy, but I didn't care. I didn't care I was at school. I didn't care I had just cried. I didn't care I was emotionally tired. I really just didn't care.

Bella even tried to fix my makeup, which I don't think helped much, considering her almost zero knowledge about said subject.

"Don't worry about Seattle, it will be just a trip, you and me, like we told Charlie." She again gave that mom smile. There was nothing in her face that indicated she was mad about it. "with lots of clothes for you and books for me."

I tried to smile to her, I don't think I was very successful.

I was quite graceful she was okay with Edward not going.

I don't know why. I just didn't trust him, and his family. Something in me told them they were dangerous. I couldn't explain it.

In the distance we heard the bell going off.

"We're going to be late." Bella said.

I closed the truck door and locked it.

"I'm not going to class today." We both looked at him.

"Why not?" Bella wondered.

"It's healthy to ditch class now and then." He smiled at Bella, there was something in his eyes. They seemed troubled.

Okay, I was once again the third wheel. I gave a quick glance at both at them before turning around and going to gym.

"Later, Bella. Bye, Edward." I said over my shoulder.

It wasn't until I arrived at gym when I remembered Bella would now be in biology and the blood. Crap, my sister was going to feel sick. I had forgotten to warn her.

I tried to talk to Coach Clapp to allow me to see my sister, but he didn't. I was stuck in gym.

I could just picture my sisters face, eyes shut, face green, trying so desperately to breath through her mouth. I hope someone got her out of class, before she puked or fainted from the high stool. With her luck she would hit her head at the table and end up having to go to the hospital.

Because I was so distracted, I ended up getting hit once in the face and twice in the head. Plus, the one time I tried to pass the ball I accidently threw it in Coach Clap's head. Well, next time, allow me to go help my sister, instead of forcing me to play basketball.

I left gym in a hurry, trying to find Mike or Angela, but they where nowhere to be seen.

When I got to English I was late. I didn't even pay attention to what Mr. Mason said. I was still worried about Bella.

I took the only seat left. Class seemed to not pass quickly enough.

When the finale bell rang, I rushed out of the room. I got to the parking lot and started to look for my sister, or Mike and Angela. Again, I couldn't find them.

"Hi, Cassie." I turned around. Behind me was Alice Cullen. I saw the rest of her family, except Edward, standing behind her, about 10 feet away from me. "Our brother asked to tell you, Bella got sick during biology, so he took her home."

Oh, at least I knew she was home. I wasn't so positive that it was good thing. The two of them alone. I wish she believed me when I said they were dangerous.

"Thank you, Alice." She gave me a smile before turning around and skipping to her family. I wish I had as much grace as her, I could barely walk in this wet floor. And there she was, skipping. Like it was nothing.

I got in my truck and drove home.

I found Bella reading Macbeth in her bed.

"Are you okay?" I asked. I didn't even give her a chance to answer before starting to apologize. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot to warn you. I only remembered when I got to gym and by then Coach Clap wouldn't allow me to leave. I'm so sorry."

"Slow down, Cassie. It's okay. Edward brought me home."

"I know, Alice told me." I tried to keep my displeasure out of my voice, but I don't think I was very successful.

Bella told me about their conversation in the cafeteria and the car. I knew there was something she was hiding from me, I just didn't know what. She told me how he just knew I was crying in the car, and that they should check on me. Instead of telling me more, she chose to use that as her way of changing the subject, asking me what had happened.

"I know you don't believe me they are dangerous. But it was like you just screwed me over when he asked to take us to Seattle. I was just so mad, and sad, and hurt. I had never seen you chose a guy over me. And to just toss me out like that and ignore my feelings like that."

"I'm so sorry, Cassie. I don't know what happened. What came over me. I wont talk to him anymore."

I wanted to hug her, to say 'thank you' but I knew that would hurt her. Until we figured out what their secret was, until I had proof that they were dangerous, I knew that asking her to do that would only hurt her. And I didn't want to hurt her.

"You can't, Bells, we still need to figure out what they are. You have to ask him, get him to talk." I smiled at her. I really wished I had just said 'thank you, I really appreciate that.'

* * *

 **I know it's short, sorry guys. Next chapter is going to be a important one.**

 **Again, thank you for those who reviewed: YaleAceBella12, BrookeWorms3, SmillinAnne, Laura221, NewBlueTrue.**

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 **I hope I was able to transcript correctly what I wanted Cassie to feel. It's important for the rest of the series.**

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 **Love you guys! Thank you for reading**


	6. Chapter 6

**HI GUYS, SORRY ABOUT THE BREAK!**

 **CONNER: I PICTURED HIME LIKE LEO HOWARD!**

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* * *

Friday was just like any other day, I could tell Bella was hoping that Edward would be there, but like he told her, he was out camping.

At lunch Lauren was worse than usual, she kept sending me smug looks, I think she knew I had cried in the car yesterday, but I really didn't care, I didn't care about her, at least I tried not to.

The rest of the day went well.

That night at dinner, Charlie seemed enthusiastic about our trip to La Push in the morning. I think he felt guilty for leaving us home alone on the weekends, but he'd spent too many years building his habits to break them now. Of course he knew the names of all the kids going, and their parents, and their great-grandparents, too, probably. He seemed to approve.

I felt Bella stir me awake. I thought we agreed to sleep in. When I opened my eyes to see a clear yellow light streaming through our window. I couldn't believe it. I saw Bella with a huge grin at her face, we hurried to the window to check, and sure enough, there was the sun. It was in the wrong place in the sky, too low, and it didn't seem to be as close as it should be, but it was definitely the sun. Clouds ringed the horizon, but a large patch of blue was visible in the middle. We lingered by the window as long as we could, afraid that if we left the blue would disappear again.

The Newtons' Olympic Outfitters store was just north of town. I'd seen the store, but we'd never stopped there — not having much need for any supplies required for being outdoors over an extended period of time. In the parking lot I recognized Mike's Suburban and Tyler's Sentra. As we pulled up next to their vehicles, I could see the group standing around in front of the Suburban. Eric was there, along with two other boys, I believe one of them was in my History class. Jess was there, flanked by Angela and Lauren. Three other girls stood with them, one gave me a dirty look as I got out of the truck, and whispered something to Lauren. Lauren shook out her cornsilk hair and eyed us scornfully.

So it was going to be one of _those_ days.

At least Mike was happy to see us, well mostly Bella.

"You came!" he called, delighted. "And I said it would be sunny today, didn't I?"

"I told you I was coming," Bella reminded him. Since he didn't look at me even once, I choose to join Angela and Jessica and, unfortunately, Lauren.

"Hey." I greated all of them, politely, including Lauren and the other three girls. "Who are the two boys with Eric?"

"The short one is Ben and the tall one is Conner." Jessica answered. "They are both single. In case you and Bella want to invite them to the dance." Of course, she just loves to gossip.

"Like Bella and I already said, we won't be here, we will be in Seattle." I could hear Lauren scuff from where she was standing.

I knew you should not start a fight, but how I wish I could.

The last ones arrived and we started to get in the cars, ended having to take three cars with us, so I drove the truck. Somehow Bella was forced into Mike's car, so with me was Conner and Ben.

It was only fifteen miles to La Push from Forks, with gorgeous, dense green forests edging the road most of the way and the wide Quillayute River snaking beneath it twice. We rolled the windows down, to enjoy the sunlight. Since the truck could not go over 60 miles per hour we ended behind.

I first thought the trip would be awkward, but Conner was a pretty funny guy, his jokes were smart, better than those sexiest jokes. Ben was a bit quieter, and nerdier, but seemed quite lovable. It was quite a relieve to not have to be in Mike's car with 8 people.

We'd been to the beaches around La Push many times during our Forks summers with Charlie, so the mile-long crescent of First Beach was familiar to me. It was still breathtaking. The water was dark gray, even in the sunlight, white-capped and heaving to the gray, rocky shore. Islands rose out of the steel harbor waters with sheer cliff sides, reaching to uneven summits, and crowned with austere, soaring firs. The beach had only a thin border of actual sand at the water's edge, after which it grew into millions of large, smooth stones that looked uniformly gray from a distance, but close up were every shade a stone could be: terra-cotta, sea green, lavender, blue gray, dull gold. The tide line was strewn with huge driftwood trees, bleached bone white in the salt waves, some piled together against the edge of the forest fringe, some lying solitary, just out of reach of the waves.

There was a brisk wind coming off the waves, cool and briny. Pelicans floated on the swells while seagulls and a lone eagle wheeled above them. The clouds still circled the sky, threatening to invade at any moment, but for now the sun shone bravely in its halo of blue sky.

By the time I parked the truck our friend had a teepee-shaped construction built atop the old cinders. I saw Bella siting on one of the bone-colored benches and joined her.

"Hey, what took you so long?" She asked as soon as I sat down. She did not look happy.

"Sorry, but you know how the truck is." I gave her a smile and a half hug.

"Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?" Mike asked her. Mike kneeled by the fire, lighting one of the smaller sticks with a cigarette lighter.

"No," She said as he placed the blazing twig carefully against the teepee.

"You'll like this then — watch the colors." He lit another small branch and laid it alongside the first. The flames started to lick quickly up the dry wood.

"It's blue," I said in surprise.

"The salt does it. Pretty, isn't it?" He lit one more piece, placed it where the fire hadn't yet caught, and then came to sit by her. Thankfully for Bella, Jess was on his other side. She turned to him and claimed his attention. We both watched the strange blue and green flames crackle toward the sky.

"How was the ride here, Cassie?" Jessica asked really loudly, I knew what she was doing, she wanted me to talk about Conner and Ben, so that she could say something about the dance. Thankfully Conner saved me from answering by suggesting we all go on a hike to the tide pools.

At first Bella and I were going to stay, if we can trip on a flat surface, imagine the damage we could do on a hike. But Lauren also wanted to stay, so our answer was set. We got up and joined the boys that were going.

The hike wasn't too long, though I hated to lose the sky in the woods. The green light of the forest was strangely at odds with the adolescent laughter, too murky and ominous to be in harmony with the light banter around us. Bella and I had to watch our steps very carefully, soon we fell behind. It wasn't hard to know were the group was, considering all the light banter. Eventually we broke through the emerald confines of the forest and found the rocky shore again. It was low tide, and a tidal river flowed past us on its way to the sea. Along its pebbled banks, shallow pools that never completely drained were teeming with life.

We were very cautious not to lean too far over the little ocean ponds. The others were fearless, leaping over the rocks, perching precariously on the edges. We found a very stable-looking rock on the fringe of one of the largest pools and sat there cautiously, spellbound by the natural aquarium below us. The bouquets of brilliant anemones undulated ceaselessly in the invisible current, twisted shells scurried about the edges,

obscuring the crabs within them, starfish stuck motionless to the rocks and each other, while one small black eel with white racing stripes wove through the bright green weeds, waiting for the sea to return. I was completely absorbed, that I didn't hear Conner sit beside me.

"Can I ask you something?" I turned to look at him.

For a second I thought he was going to ask me to the dance, but something on his face told me he wasn't. "Sure."

"How was the ride here?"

I heard Bella gasp. I didn't quite understand what he was doing. He knew how the ride here was, he was in the car with me, why did he ask. It wasn't until I really looked at him that I realized why he had asked. He was nervous. He didn't want me to answer in front of anybody because he was afraid of the answer, but he wanted to know.

"Could've done it without all of the jokes." I tried to lighten up the mood.

"Oh…" He looked sad by my answer. That wasn't my intention. We Swan's really suck at talking with the opposite sex.

He got up to leave, I grabbed his arm to stop him. "I'm sorry! It was supposed to be a joke. I'm not very good at them. The ride here was great, I really liked your jokes, they are mature, funny and smart, which is not quite common with boys are age."

He gave a smile and scooched closer to me, claiming that he was almost falling out of the stone, since it was so small. I knew he was lying. We talked a bit more trying to get Bella to join our conversation, but I knew she was thinking about Edward, so I just focused on Conner, we about history assignments and he told a few more jokes, before the rest of the boys decided they were hungry.

Conner helped me up than Bella. This time I was a bit distracted talking to Conner, so I slipped, a few times. There were times Conner was able to catch me, but most of the times I ended up hurting my hands.

When we got back to First Beach, the group we'd left behind had multiplied. As we got closer we could see the shining, straight black hair and copper skin of the newcomers, teenagers from the reservation come to socialize.

The food was already being passed around, and the boys hurried to claim a share while Eric introduced us as we each entered the driftwood circle. Conner and I arrived together and, as Eric said our names, a few cat calls were heard, I quickly sat down on a bench and hid my face. I heard Conner tell the guys to shut up. Bella sat down next to me and Angela sat on the other side, and Mike brought us sandwiches and an array of sodas to choose from.

I could fell two pair of eyes staring at me, I knew one had to be Conner, but I didn't know to whom belonged the second one.

It was relaxing to sit with Angela; she was a restful kind of person to be around — she didn't feel the need to fill every silence with chatter. She left me free to think undisturbed while we ate.

During lunch the clouds started to advance, slinking across the blue sky, darting in front of the sun momentarily, casting long shadows across the beach, and blackening the waves. As they finished eating, people started to drift away in twos and threes. Some walked down to the edge of the waves, trying to skip rocks across the choppy surface. Others were gathering a second expedition to the tide pools. Mike — with Jessica shadowing him — headed up to the one shop in the village. Some of the local kids went with them; others went along on the hike. By the time they all had scattered, I was sitting alone on my driftwood log next to Bella, Lauren and Tyler occupying themselves by the CD player someone had thought to bring, Conner and Ben were talking opposite to us and three teenagers from the reservation perched around the circle, including the one I thought I recognized, and was responsible for the second pair of eyes staring at me, and the oldest boy who had acted as spokesperson.

A few minutes after Angela left with the hikers, Jacob sauntered over to take her place by my side. He looked fourteen, maybe fifteen, and had long, glossy black hair pulled back with a rubber band at the nape of his neck. His skin was beautiful, silky and russet-colored; his eyes were dark, set deep above the high planes of his cheekbones. He still had just a hint of childish roundness left around his chin. Altogether, a very pretty face. However, my positive opinion of his looks was damaged by the first words out of his mouth.

"You're Cassandra and Isabella Swan, aren't you?"

It was like the first day of school all over again.

"Cassie and Bella," I heard Bella sigh.

"I'm Jacob Black." He held his hand out in a friendly gesture. "You bought my dad's truck."

"Oh," Bella said, relieved, shaking his sleek hand. "You're Billy's son. I probably should remember you." He then offered me his hand, which I took, I was also quite relieved.

"No, I'm the youngest of the family — you would remember my older sisters."

"Rachel and Rebecca," I suddenly recalled. Charlie and Billy had thrown us together a lot during my visits, to keep us busy while they fished. We were all too shy to make much progress as friends. Of course, Bella had kicked up enough tantrums to end the fishing trips by the time I was eleven.

"Are they here?" Bella examined the girls at the ocean's edge, I followed her gaze, I wondered if we would recognize them now. When I looked back at Jacob, he was staring directly at Bella, I could tell he was already mesmerized by her, if I remember correctly, he was like that since we were kids, everything she said he would do.

"No." Jacob shook his head. "Rachel got a scholarship to Washington State, and Rebecca married a Samoan surfer — she lives in Hawaii now."

"Married. Wow." I was stunned. The twins were only a little over a year older than we was.

"So how do you guys like the truck?" he asked.

"I love it. It runs great."

"Yeah, but it's really slow," he laughed. "I was so relieved when Charlie bought it. My dad wouldn't let me work on building another car when we had a perfectly good vehicle right there."

"It's not that slow," I objected, even though on the beginning of the trip here I did warn Conner and Ben about the fact that the truck was slow.

"Have you tried to go over sixty?" He didn't wait for our answer, my guess is, our face revealed that we haven't. "Don't." He grinned.

I saw Bella grinning back. Jacob was the kind of guy who anyone could easily be friends with, he just brought out joy in people, at least that's what it seemed. "It does great in a collision," I offered in my truck's defense. That got a laugh out of the three of us.

"I don't think a tank could take out that old monster," he agreed with another laugh.

"So you build cars?" Bella asked, impressed. He could tell she was also impressed, which means I was officially out of the conversation, no matter what he was now going to impress Bella.

I turned to look around, Conner was staring at me and Ben was trying to get his attention. He got up, I think to talk to me, but he didn't take a step.

"Hi, I'm Quil." I heard a voice beside me. The guy standing beside me was tall like Jacob, he had dark skin, brown eyes and black hair. He was different from the others Reservations kids because of his hair, it was short and curly.

"Hi, I'm Cassie Swan." I introduced myself.

"Nice to met you, Cassie, but we actually already met. My grandfather sometimes goes fishing with your dad, and I remember a time we met."

I did not remember that, I do have a faint memory of one time my dad going fishing with other man, not just Billy Black, and I remember a lot of children, guess that was it.

Before I could answer Quil I heard Lauren's bitchy voice. "You know Bella, Jacob?"

"We've sort of known each other since I was born," he laughed, smiling at her again.

"How nice." She didn't sound like she thought it was nice at all, and her pale, fishy eyes narrowed.

"Bella," she called again, watching my sister's face carefully, "I was just saying to Tyler that it was too bad none of the Cullens could come out today. Didn't anyone think to invite them?" Her expression of concern was unconvincing.

"You mean Dr. Carlisle Cullen's family?" the tall, older boy asked before Bella could respond, much to Lauren's irritation. He was really closer to a man than a boy, and his voice was very deep.

"Yes, do you know them?" she asked condescendingly, turning halfway toward him.

"The Cullens don't come here," he said in a tone that closed the subject, ignoring her question. Tyler, trying to win back her attention, asked Lauren's opinion on a CD he held. She was distracted.

Bella and I looked at each other and then at the deep-voiced boy, taken aback, but he was looking away toward the dark forest behind us. He'd said that the Cullens didn't come here, but his tone had implied something more — that they weren't allowed; they were prohibited. His manner left a strange impression on me, and I could tell Bella also caught that.

Quil interrupted my meditation. "So how are you liking Forks?"

"Oh, I'm quite enjoying it here. Could use a bit less rain." I grimaced. He grinned understandingly.

"Do you want to walk down the beach with me?" I heard Bella ask Jacob. I turned around so quickly I think I gave myself whiplash. The only thing quicker than me was Jacob standing up. "Do you two want to join us?" Bella gave me a look that basically asked me to follow her and trust her, and so I did that.

"Sure." I gave Quil a smile and he quickly joined Jacob standing. Behind him I saw Conner lower his head next to Ben.

As we walked north across the multihued stones toward the driftwood seawall, the clouds finally closed ranks across the sky, causing the sea to darken and the temperature to drop. I shoved my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket.

Bella and Jacob were a few steps in front of us, so it was basically just me and Quil. I turned back and saw that Conner was still staring at our direction.

"Is he your boyfriend or something?"

"No. He just… We… Actually, lets not talk about that." I gave him a small smile.

And so he changed topics. Talking to Quil was quite easy, he was similar to Jacob in that aspect. We talked about school and the beach, he asked how Phoenix was. He even tried to make a few jokes, but they weren't as good as Conner's.

"Cassie come listen to a scary story!" I heard Bella call us out.

Jacob was perched lightly on one of the twisted roots of a driftwood tree while Bella sat beneath him on the body of the tree. He stared down at the rocks, a smile hovering around the edges of his broad lips. I could see he was going to try to make this good. Quil and I joined them, I sat next to Bella while Quil stood in front of us, staring at Jacob.

"You sure about this man?" Quil asked his friend.

"Relax, it's just some made up story to scare us." Jacob smiled down at us. "Do you know any of our old stories, about where we came from — the Quileutes, I mean?" he began.

"Not really," Bella admitted.

"Well, there are lots of legends, some of them claiming to date back to the Flood — supposedly, the ancient Quileutes tied their canoes to the tops of the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the ark." He smiled, to show me how little stock he put in the histories. "Another legend claims that we descended from wolves — and that the wolves are our brothers still. It's against tribal law to kill them.

"Then there are the stories about the _cold ones_." His voice dropped a little lower.

"The cold ones?" Bella asked, she was intrigued, well we both were.

"Yes. There are stories of the cold ones as old as the wolf legends, and some much more recent. According to legend, my own great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made the treaty that kept them off our land." He rolled his eyes.

"Your great-grandfather?" I encouraged.

"He was a tribal elder, like my father. You see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf—well, not the wolf, really, but the wolves that turn into men, like our ancestors. You would call them werewolves."

"Werewolves have enemies?"

"Only one."

He gave a very long pause.

"So you see," Jacob continued, "the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during my great-grandfather's time was different. They didn't hunt the way others of their kind did — they weren't supposed to be dangerous to the tribe. So my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn't expose them to the pale-faces." He winked at Bella.

"If they weren't dangerous, then why… ?" I tried to understand.

"There's always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones, even if they're civilized like this clan was. You never know when they might get too hungry to resist." He deliberately worked a thick edge of menace into his tone.

"What do you mean, 'civilized'?"

"They claimed that they didn't hunt humans. They supposedly were somehow able to prey on animals instead."

I tried to keep my voice casual. "So how does it fit in with the Cullens? Are they like the cold ones your greatgrandfather met?"

"No." He paused dramatically. "They are the _same_ ones."

He must have thought the expression on our faces was fear inspired by his story. He smiled, pleased, and continued.

"There are more of them now, a new female and a new male, but the rest are the same. In my great-grandfather's time they already knew of the leader, Carlisle. He'd been here and gone before _your_ people had even arrived." He was fighting a smile.

"And what are they?" Bella finally asked. "What _are_ the cold ones?"

He smiled darkly.

"Blood drinkers," he replied in a chilling voice. "Your people call them vampires."

 _Blood drinkers_. Those two words kept repeating in my head. Margaret Yalie was drained of blood. Jacob thought it was just a ghost story, but he was wrong. I was true. The Cullens were vampires, and they had killed Margaret Yalie. Edward was getting closer to Bella, what if that was his way of hunting? What if his plan was to kill her, us? I had to find a way to get Bella to stop looking into this. If the learned the truth she would be in even more danger.

"Both of you have goose bumps," Quil laughed delightedly.

"You're a good storyteller," Bella complimented him, she was staring into the waves. I really needed to find a way to put an end to this.

"Pretty crazy stuff, though, isn't it? No wonder my dad doesn't want us to talk about it to anyone."

"Don't worry, we won't give you away." If I have a say in this it ends tonight.

"I guess I just violated the treaty," Jacob and Quil laughed.

"We'll take it to the grave," Bella promised, and then I shivered.

"Seriously, though, don't say anything to Charlie. He was pretty mad at my dad when he heard that some of us weren't going to the hospital since Dr. Cullen started working there."

"We won't, of course not."

I didn't pay attention to anything else being said, all I could think about was how dangerous the Cullens really were. I needed to get Bella to stop digging into this.

When I snapped back to reality Mike and Jessica had joined us, Quil was sitting beside me, looking at me worried.

"Well," Mike paused, carefully reassessing the situation as he watched Bella's and Jacob's camaraderie. "We're packing up — it looks like it's going to rain soon."

We all looked up at the glowering sky. It certainly did look like rain.

"Okay." I followed Bella. "We're coming."

"Are you okay?" Quil whispered to me.

"Yeah, just thinking about the ghost story." I gave a smile, which didn't stop him from worrying. "Trying to remember when is the next fullmoon, to stay away from the reservation and such." That got him to stop worry. We shared a laugh before saying goodbye.

I pulled up my hood as we tramped across the rocks toward the parking lot. A few drops were beginning to fall, making black spots on the stones where they landed. When we got back to the cars, I saw Conner waiting beside the truck.

"Where's Ben?" I asked. The rain was getting worse, so we quickly got inside the vehicle.

"He went with Eric." He answered. It was quiet after that. It was so different from the ride towards La Push.

I parked the car a few spots beside Mike's Suburban in the Newtons' Olympic Outfiters parking lot. I expected him to just leave, considering our trip, but he didn't. I could see Bella looking at me with a questioning look on her face. I didn't understand what was going on either. I heard him take a few breaths before finally talking.

"Sorry I acted weird now. See you at lunch?" He said that so fast it was hard to comprehend.

"Yeah, sure." He gave a smile before leaving the truck. Bella soon took his place.

"So, that was an interesting story about the Cullens." That made me snap back to reality. Save my sister.


End file.
